Zootopia: Lightning
by Fleetlord Avatar
Summary: While practicing his speed, Barry Allen once again breaks the dimensional barrier. Now, stranded in Zootopia, he finds himself working with Nick and Judy on a case that involves criminals being augmented with cybernetic abilities, while also trying to find a way home.
1. Chapter 1

"You okay in there Carrots?" said Nick Wilde over the radio inside his oxygen mask.

"For the moment," replied his partner, Judy Hopps. "But this fire is getting out of control fast; we need to get these mammals out of here now!"

The fox glanced up at the burning building, smoke had already been billowing from the windows when they heard the dispatch, but now, tongues of fire were starting to erupt from within, despite the best effort of Zootopias Fire department.

This was supposed to be a slow day for him and his partner, ever since the pair had cracked the Night Howlers case and he had graduated the Police Academy, the two officers had proven themselves in the field time and again. However, in recent weeks the stress had been telling, so they had been relieved when Chief Bogo assigned them a routine patrol of Sahara Square.

Neither of them had been expecting that their patrol would turn into a rescue mission. They had only been out for a few hours when dispatch reported a fire from an apartment building, the pair had responded immediately and now Judy was inside the raging inferno trying to evacuate as many of the panicked residents as she could, while Nick remained at the front door to help guide them outside.

As he directed a pair of coughing cheetahs through the door towards the police cordon, he saw Judy come running towards him with a bundle wrapped in her arms.

"That everyone?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "We've still got mammals stuck on the roof and there's a kit trapped on the fifth floor. I'm going back for him."

"Are you nuts Carrots?!" he exclaimed. "You said it yourself that this fire is getting out of control!"

"I can't just leave a child there to burn Nick!" she replied, thrusting the bundle into her partners arms. "Get clear and stay back, have the Fire Department direct water to the upper floors, which should buy me some time!"

Before the fox could protest, Judy was sprinting towards the apartment's staircase, her athletic legs allowing her to leap up the stairs in quick succession.

Seeing that the bundle he held was a Cheetah kitten, and with the smoke getting thicker and thicker, Nick Wilde had no choice but to fall back to the police cordon, handing the kitten off to its parents before turning to face the towering inferno.

The fire had nearly claimed all the building now, dense black smoke was billowing into the sky and Nick could clearly see the flames burning away the walls. He looked over to where the Fire Department had set up their engines, high powered hoses spraying gallons of water onto what was becoming a lost cause.

He jogged over to the fire chief, a burly elephant who was spraying water onto the blaze from his trunk.

"Officer Wilde, I'm going to have to ask you to remain back here, it's too dangerous for any mammal to be near it anymore."

"Listen, my partners still in there rescuing a kit from the fifth floor. I need you to try and keep it under control until then, please."

"We'll do our best," he replied. "But it might not be enough."

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The heat was overbearing, the smoke suffocating, but Officer Judy Hopps had a job to do.

Leaping her way to the fifth floor had been easy; however the stairs had collapsed shortly after she landed, meaning she would need another way out. Keeping as low as possible, ZPD's first rabbit officer quickly made her way under the smoke and along the row of apartments to the door at end of the hall.

"Hello?!" she cried, banging her paw on the wood. "I'm with the police; I'm here to get you out!"

When no one answered, she pressed one of her sensitive ears to the surface, and managed to pick up muffled sobbing from the other side.

Taking a short run up, she kicked in the door.

She barely had time to take in the small apartment, as she zeroed in on the sobbing that was emanating from a closet near the back of the living room. Quickly moving across the room, she threw back the doors to reveal a small fox cub cowering among a layer of clothes.

"Hey there," she said gently, as the terrified cub tried to scrabble back from her.

"Easy, I'm here to get you out of here, see," she showed the cub her badge, and a split second later he threw himself into her arms.

"There there," she cooed. "Let's get out of here."

The cub's size relative to her meant that he was just under the rabbit's height, so she had to take it slower than she would have liked, with no staircase back down, she had little choice but to try and get them above the flames.

"Nick, do you copy?"

"Glad to hear your voice Carrots," he replied through the radio static. "What's the situation?"

"I've got the kit, but the stairs have collapsed, I'm going to try and make it to the fire escape on the other side of the building."

"That's not going to happen, the fire has nearly engulfed that whole area, can you make it to the roof?"

"I think so, the stairs going up look intact from-"

She was cut off as an explosion rocked the building; the fire had breached the gas line.

Looking forwards, she saw a fireball racing towards her and the helpless kit; instinctively she threw her body across him as a shield, and then there was a flash.

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Outside Nick Wilde saw the explosion erupt like a volcano from the side of the fifth floor.

"JUDY!" he screamed in despair.

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Far across the metropolis of Zootopia, something happened.

Any mammal that got the briefest of glimpses would have seen a swirling vortex open right in the middle of a busy highway before a bolt of yellow lightning shot out at breakneck speed, the vortex closing behind it.

The bolt rocketed down the road, sending papers, plants and even rodent vehicles spiralling through the air in its wake. No creature got more than a fleeting glance as it expertly ran over cars, around corners and in-between mammals. It covered the entire city in the blink of an eye, speeding down streets, roads and even over buildings before it changed direction and headed straight towards Sahara Squares raging inferno.

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Instead of burning pain, Judy Hopps instead experienced what could best be described as a 'whoosh' of air. Tentatively opening her eyes, she saw that she was no longer inside the burning building. She was instead standing safely behind the police cordon, where her partner was screaming her name.

"JUDY!"

"Nick?" she replied, disorientated.

The fox spun round at the sound of her voice, he stared at her for a split second before scooping her into a relieved embrace.

"Don't ever do that to me again," he replied, struggling to keep himself together. "I thought you were dead."

"I…thought I was…" she replied. "What happened? How did I get out here?"

They were interrupted by another bust of air and suddenly a bewildered fox couple were standing next to them.

"Daddy!" cried the kit as he ran straight into the arms of his father.

"What's going on?" said Judy, as another two mammals, this time a koala and a dog, appeared alongside them.

"I don't know, but you might want to look at this," said Nick.

Judy returned her attention to the apartment block, and saw that yellow lighting was shooting in and out, bringing more and more of the stranded mammals with it every time it returned to where she stood. It ran through doors, windows and even up the sides of the building to the roof, always returning with another mammal or two.

After the roof was clear, the lighting sped back inside, and through the smoke, they could see it flitting between different rooms, like it was checking to make sure every creature had got out. It then returned to the building's exterior and began running in circles around it, getting faster and faster.

"What's it doing?" said Nick.

"I think it's…trying to create a vacuum," replied Judy. "It wants to starve the oxygen that's feeding the fire."

Every mammal present felt the wind pick up as the lighting continued to move, causing a funnel of air to form around the building. The flames inside became weaker and weaker as all the oxygen was sucked away, until the fire went out like a candle.

Every creature present was stunned, but the day had one last surprise to throw at them.

The lighting stopped right in front of Judy and Nick, and they finally got a good look at what, or rather whom, had just saved so many lives.

The creature stood about as tall as a wolf, and wore a red suit that covered most of its face, but left the eyes and mouth exposed. A yellow and white insignia with a gold lightning bolt was emblazoned on its chest and Nick could see two smaller icons on the side of its head. It didn't resemble anything Nick or Judy had ever seen in Zootopia before.

It stood for a moment, smiling at the crowd of mammals that stared back in awe, before approaching the two officers.

"Is everyone alright?" it said.

Judy hadn't expected the thing to speak and found herself at a loss; thankfully Nick managed to find his tongue.

"Yes, thank you," he replied. "That could have been a lot worse."

"No problem," it replied, that smile reappearing on its face to reveal set of white teeth that were similar to a prey animal, but Judy was certain she saw a set of canines in amongst them.

It got up and took another look at the crowd.

"Animals," it said, and she was sure it sounded amused. "Animals…I love this earth."

It stepped back from the pair and took a runners stance.

"Wait!"

It stopped and turned to look at Judy.

"Thank you for saving me," she said. "But, who are you?"

"Me?" it replied, grinning. "I'm The Flash."

Then it disappeared in another burst of lightning, leaving the two ZPD officers, and a large group of mammals, to wonder what had just happened.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm fine Nick, stop fussing."

Nick Wilde looked his partner in the eye as he pulled back her oxygen mask. It had been just over an hour since the blaze was extinguished, and they were currently sitting in the back of an ambulance parked by the smouldering remains of the apartment block. Emergency vehicles had remained on site while injuries were treated and the fire crews made sure that the building wouldn't re-ignite.

"Carrots, you were almost turned into burned bunny by that explosion. If it weren't for that 'Flash' fella then I doubt we would be having this conversation."

He replaced the mask before she could speak and continued to check her for injuries. Judy had to admit that it was strange for the normally cocksure fox to act like a fussy mother hen, although she would be lying if she said the attention was entirely unwelcome.

"Well, the good news is that you haven't got any serious injuries."

"And the bad news?"

"Maybe you should consider calling yourself 'Singed Hare'," he replied with a grin.

Judy laughed as she playfully punched him in the arm.

"Ow, the boxing circuit really missed out on you," he replied, rubbing the impact site.

"Har har," she replied sarcastically. "How are the mammals that were rescued?"

Nick looked over to the police cordon, where a healthy crowd of reporters had gathered since word got out about 'The Flash'. They were interviewing some of the mammals he had rescued from the burning building, and Nick spied a few sharing photos from their phones.

"A few need attention for smoke inhalation, but otherwise everyone got out without a scratch," he said, taking a seat next to his partner. "Heck of a day."

"Yeah," she replied. "How did he move so fast? It was like I was there and then 'WHOOSH! I was out here."

"'Whoosh?' Really? That's your best superhero sound?"

"What's wrong with 'whoosh'?"

"Nothing…if you want to follow it up with 'bam', 'zork' or even 'kapowza!"

"You read too many comic books," chuckled Judy.

"I have to do something while you do all that paperwork."

The two officers shared a laugh as the adrenaline from the day's action began to wear off, fatigue taking its place. Nick sighed as he ran his paw through his sweaty, smoke stained fur, while Judy gently laid her head against his shoulder.

"Any idea where he ran off to?"

"Not a clue," replied Nick, then he radio sprang to life.

"Officers Wilde and Hopps, return to Precinct 1 immediately!" barked the voice of Chief Bogo.

"But I have a feeling we're going to find out."

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Barry Allen was having one of those weird days.

Then again, almost every day since he became The Flash could qualify as a 'weird day'.

Although accidentally breaking the dimensional barrier and ending up in a world of anthropomorphic animals would definitely be up there with the stranger ones.

Ever since the particle accelerator explosion that gave him his powers, he had fought metahumans, evil speedsters, travelled to two, now three, alternate earths, and even met his doppelganger. He had thought nothing could take him by surprise anymore, until he saw that camel in a three piece suit.

He had been working on his speed at the time he 'crossed over', and at the rate he had been moving, slowing down wasn't an option. Barry had little choice but to keep going and try to bleed it off. Thankfully, helping rescue the mammals from the burning apartment had done just that.

After rocketing away from the scene, Barry had been trying to get his bearings, so he did what every interdimensional tourist does. He went sightseeing.

"How on earth do they do this?" he said, scratching his head.

He had stopped on top of the wall that separated Tundra Town from Sahara Square, and was flitting back and forth between the massive heaters on one side, and the blizzard generators on the other.

"The heaters obviously help create the desert biome, but why doesn't it affect the arctic habitat? Shouldn't there at least be a massive rainstorm between the two?"

Barry looked out over Sahara Square, his gaze wandering up the gigantic, palm tree shaped skyscraper that seemed to be a focal point for its development.

"Either way, this is really cool," he said with a grin. Taking his smartphone from a pocket on his suit, he took a quick selfie and some shots for back home. He knew Cisco would get a real kick out of seeing this.

Zipping down the wall into Tundra Town, Barry managed to avoid slipping on the icy roads as he ran towards one of the vents that pumped snow into the sky. The chill was noticeable, even though his thermally heated costume and he stayed only for a moment to take some pictures of the massive machines before speeding towards a tunnel into the Rainforest District.

Emerging into the humid, tropical atmosphere, Barry ran off the road and up a winding pathway towards the top of canopy. Stopping at a viewpoint, he looked out between the trees in awe, as the sea of greenery seemed to go on forever. He could make out shapes on the wooden paths as mammals went about their daily lives while trains trundled their way through the trees and airships soared towards the sky.

This place was magnificent.

"I don't think anyone is going to believe me, even with these pictures."

He spied a bench and sat down; trying to take it all in. This was an earth, run by animals, which had not only evolved into an almost humanlike culture, but had apparently built some sort of urban utopia where nearly every species could live together.

"How do they power it all?" he wondered aloud. "Is it nuclear?"

"Ahem."

He looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat, and saw an elderly female tiger in a faded pink dress standing next to him.

"Sorry to bother you young man, but is this seat taken?"

"Oh, no sorry, let me just move up a bit."

As he moved along, the tiger gratefully took a seat next to him.

"Thank you," she said. "My old paws were killing me, but it's worth it for the view."

"Oh, yeah definitely," he replied. "I've never seen anything like it back home."

"Few mammals have. If you don't mind me asking, I've never seen a mammal like you before," she said. "Are you new to Zootopia?"

"You could say that," he replied with a nervous laugh. "So, this place is called Zootopia?"

"Yes, the city where anyone can be anything," she finished that last statement with a small flourish of her arm.

Barry chuckled.

"To be honest I'm a bit overwhelmed," said Barry. "You wouldn't know if theres a tourist information aywhere?"

The Tiger smiled warmly.

"Well, in my experience, if you get lost or overwhelmed, then theres no group of mammals better suited to help you than the ZPD."

"ZPD?"

"The Zootopia Police Department," she replied. Pulling what looked like an IPhone out of a pocket, she tapped her pads across the screen beofe turning to Barry.

"Take a look, they are such a nice group of mammals. My grandson is at the police academy right now in fact."

She handed him the machine and he saw that the device was indeed an IPhone, or at least an equivalent given there was a carrot insignia on the back. The screen showed the ZPD's web page and Barry read it with interest, scrolling through the information about its officers, operations and recruitment policy. It reminded him a lot of the police department in Central City.

Making a note of the buildings address on his own phone, he handed back the tigers. He would check it out later, first he wanted to explore this earth for a bit longer, and hopefully find someone that could help him get home in the process.

He thanked the tiger for her help and stood up to go.

"Do you need any change for transport?" she asked.

"No thank you, I got this covered," he replied with a smile, before shooting off in a cloud of dust.


	3. Chapter 3

When Judy and Nick returned to Precinct 1, they were immediately directed to the bullpen by Clawhauser, the chubby cheetah warning them that Chief Bogo seemed to be on the warpath.

Upon entering, they saw that they weren't the only ones that the Chief had summoned; the room was packed out with officers from all across the city, each speculating why he had called them in from patrol in the middle of the day. Taking a seat at the front table, they didn't have to wait long before Chief Bogo threw open the door and stomped in.

"Fangmire, lights!" he snapped, as everyone fell silent.

The wolf sitting near the back of the room flicked off the light switch while Bogo pulled down a screen and fired up the ceiling mounted projector. After a moment, an image appeared in the whiteboard. It was of The Flash standing by the burnt apartment from earlier that day.

"For those of you that are not aware, this strange mammal has been appearing all over the city and beyond in the last hour or so. What's more, images of him are being plastered all over social media where ever he goes.

Bogo stood behind the speaker's podium and clicked the button that was used to change the projector slide.

"Tundra Town."

This image had The Flash, appearing as a scarlet blur surrounded by lighting as he broke up a robbery.

"Rainforest District."

This was a series of images that showed The Flash, again photographed as a scarlet blur, racing back along a collapsing walkway. The last image was the only one with a clear picture of him, as he had stopped moving to hand over a giraffe and tiger cub to their parents.

"Little Rodentia."

A quiet laugh went around the assembled officers, as the image had scarlet speedster tip toeing around rodents and miniature buildings as he pursued a familiar looking pickpocket.

"Weaslton never learns, does he?" muttered Nick to Judy as they shared in the collective amusement.

"Deer Brook County," continued Bogo.

This image had The Flash standing beside an ambulance at a crash scene. He was speaking with the Caribou EMT, who was gesturing to the mess of debris between him and the accident site. From the picture, it looked like at least three vehicles were involved and the debris was blocking the ambulance. A second image had a lighting shrouded blur clearing a route for the ambulance and a third even showed him at the hospital sharing doughnuts and coffee with the exhausted crew.

"Bunnyburrow."

"Are those are my parents?!" blurted out Judy in surprise.

The image did indeed show her parents, Stu and Bonnie Hopps, with their old pickup truck. The bonnet was open and Stu had his head buried in the smoking engine block, while Bonnie stood to one side. The Flash was talking to her, and he was in the act of handing tools to her father so he could fix the stricken vehicle.

Bogo shot her an annoyed look.

"If Chitter is to be believed, your parent's truck broke down and he ran back to their farm to get a toolbox, although your father apparently tried to taze him first. That image was posted by one 'Jenny Hopps', who followed it up by stating, and I quote, 'he's hot.'"

That caused Judy to groan inwardly, Jenny was one of the eldest of her 275 siblings, and she was constantly getting these high school crushes on any attractive mammal she saw. Then there was her parents, whom she loved dearly, but they could get so nervous around strange mammals. She wondered if they had tried to contact her so she checked her phone and found there were over a dozen unread messages waiting for her.

The lights went back up and Bogo addressed his men.

"We don't know what he is, where he came from, or even what his motivations are. He is to be brought in for questioning immediately."

"You want us to arrest him, sir?" asked Nick. "Only from that, it doesn't look like he's done anything wrong. Heck, he saved Officer Hopps from that fire."

"I am aware of his 'heroics' Officer Wilde," replied Bogo, glaring at the fox. "But the fact remains that, regardless of his actions, he is an unknown mammal and a vigilante, which sets a dangerous precedent. Having mammals take the law into their own paws is something that I. Will. Not. Tolerate!"

He slammed his fist onto the podium for emphasis.

"Now, return to your regular assignments, but if The Flash is sighted by any one of you, I expect you all to drop what you're doing and apprehend him, dismissed!"

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 _"Try Everything! Whoa oh oh oh oh! Try Everything!"_

"I'll say one more thing for this earth, it's got great music."

Barry was glad that Cisco had installed a scanner into his earpiece; it was originally so he could listen out for crimes through police frequencies, but it could also pick up standard radio signals as well.

He bobbed his head to the beat of Gazelles' number one hit as he sped back towards Zootopia, mulling over recent events.

After exploring some more, as well as helping out wherever he could, Barry had focused his efforts on trying to find a way back home. To that end, he had checked every library he could find and even borrowed a computer from the grateful owner of an Internet Café after he stopped a theft in progress.

However, despite an extensive search, he hadn't found anything useful so far. There was no Central City on this earth, no Cisco Ramone, Harrison Wells, Caitlin Snow or even an equivalent to STAR labs. The team of friends he relied on did not exist here, and, as he continued his research, he came to a startling conclusion.

There were no humans on this earth at all.

From what he had found, the dinosaurs had gone extinct in much the same way they had on his earth, but instead of apes evolving into the dominant species, every mammal had done so instead. Apes still existed, in fact he had found an image of one in a literal 'monkey suit', but they had not evolved into Homo sapiens.

This left him with a bit of a problem, as he could not blend in with the population outside of his costume.

Blasting through the city limits, The Flash ran to one of the less travelled parts of the city and stopped in a secluded alleyway to rest. Pulling back his mask, Barry pulled an energy bar from a pocket on his costume and took a bite.

The snack was another of Cisco's ideas, they were especially designed to help him replenish the ten thousand or so calories he burned every day. That was one good thing about his powers, he could eat almost as much as he wanted and never put on weight.

Sitting on an upturned bucket, he took a deep breath as he tried to think. He needed somewhere to stay until he could find a way home, but he had nothing save what he was already carrying. He could always ask for some money from the people he helped, but that wasn't how he worked, heroes didn't charge for their service.

Then he remembered what the tiger had said earlier, when you need help, go to the ZPD.

Pulling out his phone, Barry checked the address. Finishing the bar, he pulled his mask back on and was about to speed off when he saw a police cruiser drive past, one that had a familiar looking bunny at the wheel.

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"I swear that the coffee gets more expensive every day," moaned Nick as he and Judy left the Snarlbucks. "Why do you keep going there?

"I happen to like a bit of flavour to my coffee," she replied. "Besides, that cheap place we went to was awful, I swear they just re-used the grounds from the last customer."

"Well, you have to keep ahead of the completion somehow," replied her partner. "I remember this one hustle I pulled with powdered dirt-"

"And, that's where I'm going to stop you." interrupted Judy.

"It's not as bad as it sounds Carrots," he replied with a chuckle.

"I still don't want to know how you conned mammals into drinking filtered dirt."

"Meh, your loss," he replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

"So…what do you think about Bogo's orders?" she said as they turned towards where they had parked their cruiser.

"Arresting this 'Flash' guy? I can see where buffalo butt is coming from; I've seen plenty of 'justice' dealt out by the wrong types before."

"So you agree with Bogo?"

"Now I didn't say that," he replied. "When you hustle mammals for a living, you get very good at reading others."

He stopped and turned to Judy.

"When he spoke to us after the explosion, I studied his face, posture and even listened to the tone of his voice. It was a bit difficult through that mask of his, but I will say this, if he was pulling anything, then he's a damn good actor."

"So you don't think he's got an ulterior motive?" she replied.

"Nope, I don't think you do either."

Judy continued walking towards their cruiser.

"You're right; I don't think he's a criminal. He saved my life Nick, and it takes a brave mammal to jump into a fireball for stranger, weird powers or not. But Bogo still wants him brought in for questioning, what I'm hoping, is that The Flash can convince him that he's not a threat to Zootopia."

"Of course, that all depends on our ability to catch something that's faster than Clawhauser at an all you can eat doughnut buffet," quipped Nick, which earned him an elbow to the ribs.

"Ow! You really like hurting me today, Carrots."

"Only because I love you," she replied, innocently.

He felt his heart flutter at those words.

"You do have a point though," she continued turned a corner. "It's not like he's just going to fall right into our lap."

"Actually Carrots," said Nick as he looked past Judy. "You might want to re-think that."

Judy looked over to where Nick was focusing his attention, and nearly dropped her coffee in surprise.

The Flash was by their cruiser, taking pictures with a smartphone and attracting a small crowd. Spotting the two approaching officers, he gave them a friendly wave as he approached.

"Hi there," he said. "If it's not too much trouble, I need your help."


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, I honestly did not expect this to get the attention it has done. Glad to see people like it, heres the next chapter, which contains some action for you all. Any constructive criticism is appreciated.**

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The police cruiser trundled down the main road out of Sahara Square, its windows sealed against the otherwise oppressive heat. Inside, Barry Allen was lying back and enjoying the icy blast from the vehicles air conditioning while Judy and Nick sat in the front, wondering exactly how they should speak to the strange creature sitting in the back of their car.

"Okay I have one serious question," said Nick, breaking the silence. "Why aren't you wearing your undies on the outside of your costume; I thought all superheroes did that?"

Barry chucked as Judy lightly slapped her partner for being cheeky.

The ice was broken.

"Only the ones in comic books I'm afraid," he replied.

"Shame, you could have some fun with that," said Nick.

"So…where are you from, exactly?" asked Judy, who was skilfully navigating them through traffic. "You're not like any mammal we've ever seen before."

"That might take some explaining," replied Barry. "Imagine there are multiple versions of earth, only, in one, mammals never evolved, in another the dinosaurs never became extinct."

"One where we're all evil?" enquired Nick.

"Been there, it sucks," replied Barry. "Anyway, these earths occupy the same space, but vibrate at different frequencies, so they exist in different universes and can't see each other.

"But if you could change the way your body vibrates, you could travel between them," finished Judy.

"Exactly," said Barry.

Nick shot his partner a look that was both impressed and seemed to say 'how'd you know that?"

Judy shrugged.

"I might have read a few of your comics when you were off sick last week," she replied.

"So, if you can go anywhere in the universe, why did you come here?" asked Nick.

"Well, It wasn't exactly on purpose."

Twisting the crest on the front of his suit, Barry lent forward and showed the underside to the two officers. A small device was stuck to the metal, but some of its components looked like they had blown out.

"It's called a Tachyon Enhancer; essentially it allows me to run even faster. I was using it to practice my speed when I accidentally broke the dimensional barrier."

"And you popped out here, just in time to save me from that explosion," said Judy.

"Pretty much, I'm just happy I landed somewhere that speaks English. Theoretically I could have ended up anywhere."

Silence fell as reality caught up with Judy and Nick. Had The Flash not ended up on THEIR earth, then Judy would have died, it was a sobering thought.

"I never did thank you for saving my life Flash," she replied, quietly.

"Neither did I," added Nick, with a level of sincerity that surprised Judy

"You're welcome," he replied, pulling off his mask. "And my names Barry, Barry Allen," he reached one hand forwards for a shake, and Nick and Judy gratefully returned it.

Sitting back, Barry took a moment to look out of the window as he kept finding himself in awe at the sheer scale of Zootopia. How the buildings seemed to work with the landscape, not against it, how the massive artificial environments seemed so natural. It would remain one of the most incredible things he would ever see.

"Thanks for believing me by the way," said Barry as he stuck the emblem back onto his suit. "I'd have gone home by now if the enhancer hadn't burnt out."

"Well, we don't exactly know of any mammals that could disprove your story," replied Nick. "So we are going with our gut instincts on this one. I'm just sorry we have to bring you in for a chat with the chief. But hey! At least you're not in handcuffs."

"And here I thought we were just having a nice drive," quipped Barry.

Nick smiled, he really liked this guy.

"We're hoping you can convince Chief Bogo that you're not a threat to any mammal," said Judy. "He was on the warpath earlier about not tolerating vigilantes in Zootopia."

"Good to know," he replied. "And there are no hard feelings about this. There's another hero on my earth, we call him Green Arrow, and he had similar problems with the police in his city. It took them a while to trust him; even then it's still a rocky relationship. Heck, Central City didn't completely trust me when I first showed up. I think it helped that there are a load of super powered criminals for me to help them fight."

"Wait," replied Nick in surprise. "There are other guys like you?"

"Not exactly like me, but yeah. Which is why I really need to get back, I've got friends who can take care of things while I'm gone, but there are threats that only I'm fast enough to deal with."

"Well, don't worry," replied Judy "Once we've spoken to Bogo, we'll see about finding a way to get you home. " She spun the cruisers steering wheel and turned it down the main highway towards Precinct 1. However, their uneventful journey was suddenly broken by Clawhausers voice over the radio.

"This is dispatch; we have a robbery in progress at the First Zootopia Bank. Be advised, suspects have taken hostages, all units in the area respond immediately."

The two officers and one superhero shared a look. Bogo had been explicit that they drop everything and bring him in, but all three knew that they couldn't leave innocents in harm's way.

Judy grabbed the radio.

"This is Officers Hopps and Wilde responding, we are two minutes from the scene, please confirm dispatch," she replied.

"Confirmed Officer Hopps," he replied. "Backup is en route but they are at least thirty minutes out."

"Don't worry Clawhauser, we've got backup of our own," she said, turning to Barry, who grinned as he pulled his mask back on, and Judy swore she could see lightning spark in the whites of his eyes.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As the cruiser sped towards the bank, Judy saw the suspects were already on their way out. They were a group of five mammals, being led by a rough looking porcupine that was standing at the top the bank steps. He was directing his cohorts to load the bags of stolen money into a black van. None of them seemed to be armed, but that did not mean they weren't dangerous.

The group took notice of the cruiser the moment it screamed towards them, sirens wailing. The porcupine narrowed his eyes at the approaching vehicle and swiftly directed two of his cohorts, a black jaguar and an rhino, to stand between it and his crew.

Screeching to a stop, Judy and Nick quickly grabbed two Tazer rifles from their mounts on the cruisers armoured doors. Kicking them open, they used them as cover while Judy spoke through the vehicles loudspeaker.

"This is the ZPD!" she called out. "Drop the money and surrender yourselves!"

Her response was a round of dark laughter.

"Not going to happen copper!" replied the porcupine. "We're just making a withdrawal, but if you want to tango, by all means, let's dance!"

Judy cautiously peered out from behind the driver's door, as the porcupine turned and presented his bristling spines. A second later, they flew from the mammals back towards her.

With yelp, she made panicked leap back into the vehicle as they thudded into the car, shattering its windows and bursting all four tires. Scrambling across the driver's seat, she ducked into the foot well while Nick quickly pulled himself into the passenger side, narrowly avoiding the deadly rain.

"Okay, that's new," he said, as more spines whizzed past.

"I'll say, but we've got something new as well" replied Judy, pulling out her radio. "We've got their attention; get the hostages out of there!"

A scarlet streak rocketed past them as The Flash made his entrance. Bypassing the criminal gang, Barry Allen pushed open the glass doors of the bank and took in the situation.

The Bank was arranged with the counters around the edge of the room, and these had reinforced glass positioned over them to protect the tellers. However, several of these had been shattered, and the staff had been herded into one corner of the room where they were being threatened by three large wolves, all armed with dangerous looking dart guns.

All this occurred in half a second, with the rest being used to formulate a plan of action. Rocketing towards the wolves, he quickly disarmed them before dragging all three outside, where he borrowed a pair of Judy's cuffs to secure them.

When this was complete, he turned his attention to the bank staff, grabbing them as fast as he could move before running outside and depositing them three blocks from the building, well away from the armed gang.

The whole thing took less than a minute, and the other criminals visibly jumped when several flashes of lighting sped between them and the bank, leaving their cohorts cuffed around a streetlight.

"The hostages are safe Officer Hopps," said Barry, stopping to face the criminals. "And these three aren't going anywhere."

"Thanks Flash," replied Judy as she and Nick emerged from cover.

The porcupine growled in anger.

"Sawbones didn't say that the ZPD had an enhanced as well, we're not paid enough for this," he muttered, before yelling at the rest of the gang.

"Get in the van!"

"Not so fast!" cried Judy as she sprinted towards the group, closely followed by Nick and Barry.

The jaguar tracked Judy and grabbed for something inside his jacket, but Barry immediately took notice and laid him out cold before he could blink.

The rhino moved next and aimed a massive punch at the rabbit, however, Judy's reflexes and police training kicked in and she quickly dodged around the large fist as it cracked into the concrete pavement. Darting between the rhinos legs, she glanced back and saw Nick put him down with a shot from his Tazer.

She now had a clear line of sight towards the porcupine as he dashed towards the open back of the van. Hefting the Tazer rifle, she took aim, and fired.

The metal darts zipped through the air like a pair of angry wasps before burying their barbs in the porcupines back. Electricity coursed through his veins moments later, causing his muscles to go into spasm and his body to seize up.

However, as the porcupine convulsed, his spines, which were facing Judy, suddenly started to fly like arrows. Curious mammals who had been watching the scene unfold, were forced to duck and dive for cover or risk being impaled, Nick and Judy included.

Barry moved as soon as the spines started to fly, speeding across the street to move mammals to safety, or pluck the sharp projectiles straight out of the air. Snatching a lion cub out of harm's way, he handed it off to its mother before deflecting two spines away from a pair of otters with a dust bin lid.

Then a cry from Judy caught his attention.

Judy, thanks to her species natural speed and agility, had managed to get into cover by the Bank stairs, but Nick had not been as fortunate as he had been cuffing both the rhino and jaguar. Caught in the open, there was nothing the fox could do except look on in horror as a cloud of spines headed straight for him.

From Barrys perspective, it was like everything was in slow motion as he ran towards Nick, the fear in the foxes eyes bringing flashes of moments where the speedster had not been fast enough. He saw a museum guard, frozen solid by Captain Cold, he saw Iris, impaled by a shard of glass.

He pushed his body to move faster as he grabbed at the lethal projectiles. Gritting his teeth, Barry could feel his as heart pounding against his ribs as his body protested his actions, but he was having none of it. Nearly all the spines were in his hand now, save one. He reached for it, brushing its very edge while Nick looked on in helpless fear.

The fox felt his heart skip a beat as Barry suddenly appeared before him in whoosh of air, the final spine clutched tightly in his fingers, inches away from impaling the fox's eyeball.

"Thanks…" said Nick, in quiet shock as to just how close he had come to death.

"You're welcome," huffed Barry.

"NICK!"

Judy practically tackled her partner into a relived hug.

"Oof, nice to see you too, Carrots," he wheezed as she squeezed him tight.

"Are you alright? You didn't get hit did you?" she replied, frantically patting his arms and chest as she worked up to his muzzle.

"Hey, hey, calm down, I'm fine," he replied, gently pushing her paws away. He gave her his trademark grin as her glistening lavender eyes locked with his.

They both smiled.

Then Barry broke the moment by clearing his throat.

"So…should I just clean this up myself, or do you guys need a bit longer?" he said awkwardly.

The two officers separated and composed themselves, Nick straightening his uniform and Judy drying her eyes before all three turned to the captured suspects. Carefully approaching the unconscious porcupine, they looked over his back, now completely devoid of spines.

"They must have been controlled by his muscles," reasoned Barry, "When the Taser shocked him they went into spasm."

"And the spines went flying everywhere," finished Judy. "Thanks for stopping them, if you hadn't…"

"Don't mention it," he replied. "Is this type of thing normal here?"

"No its not," replied Nick. "I frisked that jaguar over there, look what I found in his pockets."

He produced a small blue pellet and passed it carefully to Judy.

"Night Howler serum?"

"I'm assuming that's not a good thing?" said Barry.

"Nope," replied Nick. "Stuff makes any mammal that come in contact go completely nuts, like, 'I will rip your face off and shred it to tiny pieces level of nuts'. Judy and I stopped a plot by the Assistant Mayor to use it on the city's predators. He was going for it when you knocked him out, so that saved us a mess of trouble."

"Okay, we have a porcupine that can shoot his own spines and a jaguar carrying around Night Howlers, terrific," Judy sighed in exasperation. "We need to get these guys ready for transport to the ZPD; Bogo is not going to be happy."

"And we can't even tell when he is happy," addedNick, as the three set to work securing their prisoners.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry this took a while, real life caught up with me. As a warning, there is description of violence in this chapter, but I think I have toned it down enough for the T rating, but there are concerns then let me know.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"State your name, species and occupation for the record," rumbled Chief Bogo into the microphone.

"Barry Allen, eh…human, although technically metahuman would be more accurate."

There was a threatening growl from the buffalo, and Barry swallowed nervously.

"Moving on," he said, swiftly. "I'm a Crime Scene Investigator for the Central City Police Department."

Nick Wilde watched the exchange through the window of the observation room. As soon as the ZPD had secured the bank robbers, Barry had followed them back to Precinct 1, where Bogo had immediately hauled him off to one of the interrogation rooms. Barry could have run away at any time, but he stuck it out, probably because he wanted the ZPD to help him.

Nick listened as Bogo continued to grill the human, moving from the standard questions they asked a criminal into a reading of the riot act, followed by a long and angry lecture about why his activities are dangerous, and not sanctioned by the police.

It was no secret that Chief Bogo could be bad tempered, although everyone in the precinct knew that underneath his rough exterior was a mammal that cared about his officers. Sadly, Barry did not fall into this category, even worse, it was clear that the buffalo's apparently low tolerance for vigilantes meant he wasn't so much interrogating Barry, as he was screaming at him to stop.

Barry was no longer in his Flash costume, having changed into a pair of jeans, shoes, a plain shirt and a hoodie some point before arriving at the precinct. Nick had asked him where he kept the costume when he didn't use it, and Barry showed him a ring with the lightning bolt insignia carved into it. He didn't go into detail about how it workked, only stating that the ring was 'borrowed' from someone else.

Nicks thoughts were interrupted by the door opening as Judy entered the room.

"How's our spineless friend?" he asked, referring to the porcupine.

"I left him with Grizzoli and Wolford," she replied, pulling up a chair so she could see Barry's interrogation clearly.

"Ouch," he winced. "Are you sure that isn't over kill?"

"He called me cute," she deadpanned.

"Point taken, those two will have him singing like a canary in no time."

The two shared a grin; Grizzoli and Wolford were notorious in the department for their ability to crack even the toughest of perps.

They turned their attention back to the interrogation just as Bogo stopped the recorder. Barry flashed a nervous thumb up to the mirror as the buffalo gathered his files and made for the door.

"I guess it's over, let's see how he's doing," said Judy, hopping down from her seat.

Exiting the viewing room, both officers saw Bogo looming over Barry like an ancient behemoth.

"Wilde, Hopps, my office, now," he snapped, before stomping off down the corridor.

He let out a nervous sigh.

"You okay?" asked Judy.

"Yeah, your boss just made it very clear that he doesn't like me."

"Bogos like that," replied Nick. "But we think that underneath that rough exterior is a juicy heart of delicious gold."

"If he has one, then he hides it well. I just got first-hand experience of being the most hated person on the planet."

"I'm sure Bogo doesn't hate you," said Judy.

"Much," muttered Nick.

She shot him a glare.

"Anyway, we better get going, he really doesn't like to be kept waiting."

As the three walked through the ZPD, Barry found himself receiving a few curious stares from the various mammals they passed, with hushed conversations breaking out as both officers and civilians noticed the strange creature in their midst.

"Oh. Em. Goodness!" gasped a voice as they passed into reception. "You're the alien that's all over Furbook!"

Turning around, Barry saw a cheetah sitting behind the dispatch desk; although this one looked more like a fuzzy balloon it was so overweight.

He cocked his head in mild confusion.

"Excuse me?" he asked

"What do you mean Clawhauser?" asked Judy.

The cheetah pulled out his phone and showed them the screen, where several pictures of The Flash were plastered all over the web page. A large banner ran across the top that read 'Scarlet Speedster Sightings' and he could see it already had several hundred members.

"Looks like you've got a fan club," said Nick, grinning.

"Apparently, I keep forgetting that social media can move faster than me sometimes," replied Barry. "But how did you know that was me?"

"It wasn't difficult," said Clawhauser. "A strange mammal in a red suit appears in Zootopia, and then you get dragged into the ZPD. I may work dispatch, but I'm still a cop, and I don't know if you noticed, but you kind of stick out from the crowd."

"He's got a point," said Judy. "Look we've got to get to Bogo, will you be alright waiting here for a bit?"

"Sure," he replied. "Hopefully you can convince him I'm not the bad guy."

"I think we can manage that." she replied with a smile. "Clawhauser, would you mind keeping Barry company?"

"Of course Judy," he replied. "Be careful up there okay, I haven't seen the Chief look that angry in a long time."

As Judy and Nick headed towards Bogos office, Barry's stomach growled, with all the running around he had built up quite the appetite.

"Sorry to ask this, but do you have anything to eat?" he asked.

Clawhauser grinned.

"Do you like Doughnuts?"

"Who doesn't like doughnuts?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The silence in Bogos office was heavy as Nick and Judy entered. The Buffalo was standing behind his desk, his back facing the two officers as they took their seats. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, he finally spoke.

"What do you know about the Red Massacre?" he asked.

"It was something we covered at the academy," replied Judy. "It was an incident where two gangs were systematically killed off…by a vigilante."

Bogo gestured to a file on the desk in front of them as he continued speaking.

"I had been on the force for a few years when they occured; I was actually mentoring a young recruit at the time, a Hyena called Lee. We were called to the Rainforest District early one morning when the body of a young jaguar had been found during a routine dredging of the rivers."

Judy pulled the file off the desk and saw that it was for the infamous case. Opening it, she and Nick started studying the documents while Bogo went on with his story.

"Her husband was another jaguar by the name of Musk, the two of them lived in one of the poorer districts of Zootopia, one that had been experiencing a gang war the ZPD was struggling to contain."

Nick knew where this was going, before going straight he had lived in and around plenty of rough areas in the city. He pulled a photograph of Musk from the case file and showed it to Judy. He was in his twenties, lean, and with enough muscle to make him dangerous.

"We later learned that she had been walking home when two of the gangs involved, the Wild Hoggs and Red Bulls, started a shootout. She was caught in the crossfire and her body dumped later, although we still don't know who did it. When we told her husband, he cried out like a wounded beast, which I suppose he was."

Bogo paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, Judy and Nick looked up from the file as he fell silent. It was rare to see the buffalo like this, he was a tough mammal and that often made him seem unapproachable. But this time he seemed almost, vulnerable.

"One night members of both gangs were found strung up outside Precinct Three. They were all dead, and there was a note pinned to one of them."

Judy found the note in the file; it was just two words;

 _No more!_

"Similar scenes started to play out all across Zootopia, every few days members of the Wild Hoggs or Red Bulls would be found dead, either strung up by the local precinct, or left in the open where their friends could see them. It didn't matter if they were a low level drug dealer or one of their highest players, someone was hunting them."

Judy and Nick looked up as Bogo as he turned to face them.

"You can imagine the media frenzy around these events. We had papers stirring up the public, calling this mystery mammal anything from a hero to a murderer. Chief Inza, my predecessor, was under constant pressure from City Hall to find who this vigilante was and lock him up. He put my partner and me on the case."

Sitting down, the Buffalo felt weight of memories get drawn to the surface.

"What followed was the most harrowing few weeks of my life. Lee and I scoured every street, followed every clue, tip and hunch we had, but whoever it was stayed a step ahead of us, and the bodies kept piling up. Then we caught a break, we received a tip that both the Hoggs and the Bulls were having a meeting to try and work out a way to kill this guy themselves. But this vigilante had found out about the meeting as well, and what we found haunts me to this day."

Judy pulled some photographs from the file, and both she and Nick felt their stomachs lurch.

The image showed the interior of a ruined warehouse, its windows were broken and there was a hole in one of the walls. But what got their attention were the bodies of multiple mammals that lay strewn around the floor.

They had all been brutally torn to pieces.

"The vigilante was Musk. We found him standing over the boar that led the Hoggs, the only one he had left alive. He was wearing some sort of black costume and mask. We tried to talk him down, but when he looked at me, I didn't see a sane mammal, I saw a savage monster. He plunged his claws into that boar before we could stop him, and then he lunged at me."

Bogo sighed as he leant back in his chair and Judy though she saw the tiniest hint of something on his face, maybe regret? Guilt? She couldn't say.

"Lee pushed me out of the way, and Musk tore into him like tissue paper. The distraction meant I was able to tranquilise him, but it was already too late."

For a moment, it looked like the stoic Chief of the ZPD had tears in his eyes, but then he loomed over the desk at his officers, and the moment was gone.

"Vigilantes are dangerous, Musk is proof of that. They hunt, and they kill in the name of their own needs and wants. They care nothing for Justice and the letter of the law. So, tell me why I can't have Mr Allen arrested for simply being in that ridiculous costume of his?"

Silence fell as Judy and Nick formulated a response.

"With all due respect, sir," said Nick, choosing his words carefully. "I don't think we can compare Barry to Musk."

"And why is that Officer Wilde?" he snapped.

"Sir, from what you have told us, it sounds like Musk was driven mad with grief and rage. Having his wife killed and then dumped like garbage, I'm not surprised he went over the edge."

"So you approve of his actions?" he replied, accusingly.

"I didn't say that sir," responded Nick. "What I am saying is that Musk was motivated by his grief and anger, he wanted revenge for what happened to his wife. From what both Officer Hopps and I have observed, Barry doesn't seem like the type of mammal to go around killing others."

"Can you say that with certainty officer Wilde?" replied Bogo. "He might be hiding something? With that speed of his, he could kill a room full of mammals in the time it takes you to blink."

"Again sir, you are focusing on what Musk would do and judging Barry by that standard. When I used to hustle I had to learn how to read other mammals to see if they bought what I was selling. When I speak to Barry, I don't get any of the warning signs that I've taught myself to look for. He's not out to get anyone."

Bogo snorted, before turning to Judy.

"And you agree with this assessment Officer Hopps?"

"Yes sir, I do," she replied. "Barry has saved plenty of mammals in the short time he's been here, and I also believe that he's very much what you see. He's a nice guy that wants to use his skills to help others in need, and if it weren't for him both Nick and I would not be standing here right now."

She stood up on the chair so she could look Bogo in the eye.

"Prior to coming here, he approached us for help. He's lost sir, far from home and with nowhere to go. Even if you don't approve of his actions as a vigilante, you can at least recognise that he is a mammal in need. We would not be fulfilling our duty as officers if we did not do everything we could to help him get home."

"Plus, it gets him out of your fur much sooner," added Nick.

Bogo lent back in his chair as he took in their advice, massaging his temples to try and ease an oncoming tension headache.

"Well, you are right about one thing, I can't simply arrest him. There's that much of a stir about him over on the social media page that it would hurt us severely in the public eye. I don't normally like to play politics, but this one has me by my hooves."

With a resignated sigh, Bogo made his decision.

"I am placing Barry Allen in your custody until further notice. You are to supervise him at all times, and should you suspect him of even the slightest wrong, then you will stop him. Understood?"

"Yes Sir," they replied.

"Good," said Bogo, "Now, regarding the bank robbery you foiled this afternoon, we were able to identify that porcupine you hauled in."

Bogo reached into a drawer on his desk and pulled out another file, which he handed to Judy. Opening it, the rabbit saw it was the porcupine's criminal record.

"So, his name is Spike," said Judy as she read the document. "But according to this he was declared dead two years ago after a gas explosion."

"Indeed," replied Bogo. "At the time we believed it was an accident, as the building he was in was being renovated. However, his reappearance has given us cause to re-open that case. Have you managed to get anything from him about where he was hiding?"

"Not yet sir," replied Judy. "He was being…difficult, so I left him to Grizzoli and Wolford."

"Good move, if anyone can break him it's those two."

He turned his attention to Nick.

"In the meantime, Wilde, I want you to run a few of your own contacts. If he's been lying low then it may be difficult to find him through official channels."

"Understood, sir," replied Nick.

"Good, I also want you to go down to the Crime Lab, we were able to examine Spike before he came around, and they should have something by now."

Saluting their superior, Judy and Nick left Bogos office.

"You going to talk to Finnick?" asked Judy, as they made their way back to the front desk.

"You know me so well," replied Nick.

Judy grinned.

"Finn keeps those big ears of his to the ground," continued the fox. "If anyone has got the slightest hint of Spike and his new ability, then he'll know, or at least put us on the right path."

"Excellent…" Judy trailed off as they entered the lobby, and Nick soon saw why.

A crowd of mammals were tightly gathered around the dispatch desk, howling and cheering at something. Sharing a confused look, the two officers approached the group and pushed their way through to the front, taking in the scene before them.

Barry and Clawhauser were sitting across from one another at the desk; between them were two boxes of over a dozen doughnuts of assorted flavours.

Nick looked up at the elephant they were stood next to.

"What's going on Francine?"

"Clawhauser just got challenged to a doughnut eating contest by the alien you brought in. We've been taking bets on who's going to win. My moneys on Clawhauser, no mammal can beat him when it comes to his favourite food."

Nick shared a glance with his partner.

"Ten bucks says the alien wins," he said, offering a paw.

Francine shook it with her trunk.

"Done."

Officer McHorn lumbered up to the desk; seizing up both contenders before raising an arm.

"On your marks," he said. "Get set…GO!"

As soon as he dropped his arm, both Barry and Clawhauser tore into the doughnut boxes like a pair of starving wildebeest, the pastries disappearing such a rate that they couldn't tell if Clawhauser had somehow gained a portion of Barrys power.

One box was finished and another brought out, then another and another, both sides not backing down in the slightest. However, in the end, one of them had to break.

Clawhauser was already looking green after his third box, by the fourth he was sweating and by the fifth he looked about ready to throw up. As the sixth box was brought up, he took one chocolate covered treat in his cubby paws, only to immediately drop it and make a mad dash for the bathroom.

A combination of cheers and disappointed 'awws' went through the crowd as McHorn lifted Barry's arm up and declared him the winner.

Nick couldn't help but smirk as he collected his winnings from Francine.

As the assembled police officers broke up, some going to check on Clawhauser, Nick and Judy approached him.

"Hi guys," he said, not showing any ill effects. "Everything okay?"

"Yes," replied Judy. "Did you really just beat Clawhauser at a doughnut eating contest?"

"Err, yeah," he replied. "In my defence he did agree to it."

"I think this might finally be what puts him on that diet he's always talking about," said Nick, counting his winnings.

Judy rolled her eyes.

"Well, we've got some good new, you aren't being arrested."

"I'm sensing there's a catch."

"I'm afraid so, Bogo has put you in our custody," she motioned to herself and Nick. "So I'm afraid you can't just run off anymore."

"Oh, that's not so bad," he said. "You seem like a nice couple."

That sent the two mammals into blushing, stammering protests.

"He's not-"

"She's not-"

"We're not-"

Barry held up his hands.

"Whoa, sorry, I didn't realise you weren't a thing."

They stopped talking, and an awkward silence fell

"So…" said Barry, eager to move on. "What's next?

"Well," said Nick. "We could just leave you with one of us, but Bogo never did specify that you couldn't follow us while we work this case."

He shot Judy a knowing look,

"That's…true," replied Judy. "But powers or not, he's still technically a civilian, and there are rules about bringing them along on an investigation."

"Actually," said Barry. "Fighting crime is both my night, and day job, I'm a CSI."

"It's true, Carrots, heard it myself during Bogos interrogation. Plus, if we run into any more surprises like Spike, he can back us up."

Judy had to concede that point, Spike might be one of a kind, but then again, he might not. This was unknown territory for them, but not Barry, which would make his insight invaluable.

"Alright, if you are a CSI, then let's put those skills to use."


	6. Chapter 6

As Barry followed Nick and Judy towards the crime lab, they were met by a timberwolf coming the other way.

"Hey Wolford," said Judy. "Any luck with our guest?"

"Some," he replied. "He's a tough nut to crack I'll give him that, he seems to be more afraid of his employer than anything else."

"That's never good news," said Barry, bringing him to the wolfs' attention.

"So you're the alien that's Bogos worked up about."

"That's me," he replied with a grin. "Barry Allen, nice to meet you."

"Likewise, say, do you mind waiting for my partner? We have a bet going that you might be able to settle."

"Sure thing," he replied. "It's not about abductions is it? Only I don't do that."

"Don't worry, it's nothing like that I assure you," replied Wolford with a smile.

"So, did you get anything out of him at all?" asked Nick.

"Grizzoli should be finished with putting the screws on him right now, but for the moment, all we managed to get was the name of his employer."

"What was it?" asked Nick.

"'Sawbones,'"

"Now, there's a name that says, 'cute and cuddly'," said Barry.

"Hopefully we can get some more once he's stewed for a bit."

"Yeah," said another voice, and the group turned to see a large polar bear approaching them. "I've currently got him thinking that we're about one wrong answer away from going savage on him."

"Sounds like you guys have this well in hand," said Barry.

"You know it," said Wolford confidently. "Hey Grizzoli, this is Barry Allen, the alien we were talking about."

Grizzoli stopped and looked the human up and down for a moment, before reaching into his pocket and handing the wolf ten dollars.

"We had a bet that you would be green," he said. "Thanks for losing me ten bucks."

"Really?" he replied. "Why is it aliens have to always be green?"

"Why, what colour would you make them?" asked Nick.

"I dunno, blue? Realistically, aliens could look like anyone," he said, remembering his encounter with Supergirl.

"He's right, they might even look like meeeee!" howled Wolford as he jumped up, attempting to wrap his arms around the neck of his larger partner.

"Wolford," deadpanned the polar bear. "We have been over this before, you can't win."

However, when his partner refused to give up, the bear just sighed and grabbed the canine by the scruff of his neck like an errant pup, before holding him at arm's length.

"Hey, no fair!" he moaned, flailing his arms as everyone present laughed at his expense.

"I can see you two have a lot to do so we're going to get to the crime lab," said Judy. "Let us know if you learn anything else okay?"

"Sure thing Judy," said Grizzoli. "Don't worry; we've cracked tougher nuts than him."

With that, they parted ways, Wolford still in the firm grasp of his partner.

Continuing to the end of the corridor, the three were faced with the double doors that led to the ZPD's extensive crime laboratories. Pushing them open, Barry was impressed by what he saw.

The lab was spacious and clean, the type of clinical environment for analysing evidence effectively. There were a few tables and desks set up along the edges, each one covered in equipment that was familiar to any CSI. Several tables were set up in the centre of the room, including one for autopsies, there was also a light box for examining X-rays hanging on one wall.

"Honey, I'm home!" Called out Nick.

"When are you going to stop with that line?" replied an irate, female voice.

"Only when it stops being funny," said Nick as the lab tech trundled into view.

"My species does not mean you can greet me like life is a sitcom, I could complain to the chief about you!"

"But it's just so perfect, even your name fits."

"Yes, yes, my name is Honey and I'm a honey badger its soooo funny, blah, blah blah," she grumbled. "Now, is there anything I can do for you and your bald friend?"

It took Barry a moment to realise that she was talking about him.

"Actually," he said, trying to be polite. "We were hoping you had something to show us about the porcupine we brought in earlier."

"Oh, that guy, now he was interesting."

Taking a file from on top of a short stool, she walked over to the light box before pulling out some X-rays and thrusting them at Barry.

"You, put these up. They still haven't adapted this lab for small mammals yet."

Now that she mentioned it, Barry did notice that most of the equipment was several sizes too large for the smaller mammal.

Taking the images from her, Barry carefully stuck them to the box and switched it on. The illuminated X-rays showed the skeletal structure of the porcupine and what appeared to be hundreds of white lines running along the length of his back, almost like roots from a plant.

"What are those?" he asked.

"Very tiny machines," replied Honey. "We did a closer analysis and discovered that it's actually a microscopic launching mechanism that's been surgically installed throughout the muscle structure of his back."

She grinned.

"But wait, it gets better."

Walking over to a table, she pulled on a pair of gloves before clambering onto a stool. Taking a pair of tweezers she lifted something from a metal dish and Barry saw that it was one of the porcupine's spines.

"These look natural, right? Well, they're not."

She slid the spike underneath a microscope.

"Take a look."

Barry moved in and peered through the eyepiece, twisting the knobs on the side to clarify the image. As it came into focus, he saw that they were indeed, not natural, as the microscope revealed that they had an unnatural sheen to them.

"The spines of a porcupine are typically made of hair that's coated with thick sheets of keratin," explained Honey. "They are nasty on their own, but this appears to be some sort of Microplastic structure, reinforced with an unknown metal so that it doesn't simply snap when 'fired', so to speak."

Moving aside for Nick to take a look, Barry turned to Judy.

"Could anywhere in Zootopia make those things?"

"Similar implants are part of cosmetic surgery," she replied. "But, I've never heard of them being weaponised before."

"Which works in our favour," interrupted Honey. "The materials required to make these things, and the skill required to perform the implantation are going to be highly specialised."

"Narrowing our field of suspects dramatically," she replied.

"Indeed, although I am a little pessimistic, as it could also mean that whoever did this may be extremely difficult to find. I've got the rest of the lab analysing the materials and should have a result by this time tomorrow."

"What about the Night Howler serum?" asked Nick.

"I've got the drug team on that one, but they don't think they will be able to find out anything other than confirming what it is. We may find some trace chemicals or minerals from the refining process, but I doubt it will be much to go on. That said, growing those things in Zootopia will also require specialist equipment, so who knows, we may get lucky in a follow up search."

"We can only hope," said Judy. "Thanks Honey."

"Just doing my job Officer Hopps, now, I would appreciate it if you all left me to work."

As the three mammals were ushered out of her lab, Barry turned to Nick and Judy.

"Is she always like that?"

"Actually, that was a good day for her. Normally she cusses like a sailor."

"I heard that!" screamed Honey from behind the lab door.

"So… while we wait for that to come in," said Judy. "Nick has a source we might be able to get a lead from."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Despite it being late in the day, Savanna Square seemed to be just as hot as ever, and Barry wondered if the large heaters were on all the time, of if the biome simulated the cold desert nights as well as the scorching days.

He was currently in the back seat of Nick's personal vehicle, a modest red sports car, as the fox carefully drove through the back streets of the district.

"Tell me again how you can afford this?" asked Judy from the passenger side.

"You could say that it was a steal," he replied with a sly smile.

"Nick…" she admonished.

He chuckled.

"Relax Carrots, this is actually Flashs' old car. He gave me a good deal on it long before we met."

"Sorry," interrupted Barry. "But did you say you got this from a guy called 'Flash?'"

"Yep," he replied. "He's the fastest sloth at the DMV."

"A sloth… really?"

"Hey, are you saying because he's a sloth he can't be fast?"

"Well, no offense, but sloths don't really have a reputation for their speed."

"We know," replied Judy. "But, he was instrumental in helping us solve our first case, and he's been a good friend to the both of us ever since."

"Okay, got it, don't call the sloth slow."

Judy sat back in her seat and adjusted the air conditioning, as it was late in the day; both she and Nick had changed out of their uniforms into their normal clothes. Nick was wearing his favourite green Hawaiian shirt and tie with brown trousers, while Judy had opted for a soft pink blouse and a pair of jeans.

"So, who are we meeting again?" asked Barry.

"A buddy of mine named Finnick," replied Nick.

"I still think we should be in uniform for this," said Judy. "I don't like the idea of being out here without my stab vest at the very least."

"Carrots, not everyone thinks that uniform we wear is a good thing. When word got around that I joined up, I lost a few friends purely because they hate anyone with a ZPD badge."

"Really?" she replied, surprised. "I'm sorry Nick, I didn't know."

"It's alright," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "They weren't the nicest of mammals anyway; I hang out with a much better crowd these days."

He shot her a smile, and she felt her cheeks flush.

Turning a corner, Nick spotted Finnicks van parked in an alleyway between two buildings, lined up next to it were three chairs with foot rests that resembled shoe shine stands.

Indicating, Nick pulled the car over just across the street and they all got out.

Approaching the van, the fox rapped his knuckles on the rear door, and had to leap back as they were suddenly flung open to reveal an irate fennec waving a baseball bat.

"Who is it?!" he yelled, in a voice that was surprisingly deep for a mammal his size.

"Hey there Finn," replied Nick, nonchalantly. "How're you doing?"

The fennec growled at his former partner, baring his teeth.

"You've got a lot of guts coming here Wilde, especially after what you pulled."

Judy and Barry shared a concerned look, while a confused Nick cautiously approached the diminutive vulpine.

For a moment, it looked like Finnick would attack him right there, and then the scowl slowly broke into a wide smile before he dropped the bat and threw himself at Nick, wrapping him in what could have been a bear hug, but his size meant it looked more like a child embracing his father.

"Ha, ha! How you doing you old hustler?"

Nick, relived that his old friend was just messing with him, returned the hug.

"I'm doing great Finn, what about you?"

"Carrying on as normal Wilde," he replied, releasing him. "What about you, still working for the Fuzz?"

"You know it. I'm on the straight and narrow."

"Ha! We both know that's never the truth," laughed the sand fox, lightly slapping the taller mammals leg.

"Oh, it is," said Judy, stepping forwards. "I make sure of it."

"Hey there Judy," he replied. "Still following this guy everywhere?"

"More like, he follows me," she replied with a grin. "I hope you don't mind, but we brought a friend."

Barry stepped forwards, getting down to one knee so he could introduce himself at an equal level.

"I'm Barry."

"Finnick," he replied, shaking his hand. "So, what the heck happened to you?"

"Um, excuse me?" said Barry, confused.

"Your fur, I knew hair loss could set in early, but damn."

Nick couldn't help himself, and burst into loud fits of laughter.

"Nick!" snapped Judy, trying to rein in her partner. However, she found her composure slipping and had to fight back a few giggles.

Barry felt just a little incredulous.

"I think we should explain something," said Nick, fighting back a few chuckles. "Barry hasn't lost his fur, it's just how he is."

"Huh, never seen a hairless monkey before," said Finnick.

"Actually, I'm a human being," replied Barry, eager to move the meeting forwards.

"Never met one of those before," he replied. "You sure you're not some kind of naked bear?"

"Yes," said the human, firmly.

"Alright, don't get your undies in a knot," said Finnick, raising his paws defensively. "Anyway, you guys here for a foot grooming or what?"

"Of course we are," said Nick.

"Okay then, get up on the seats and I'll get my stuff."

As the fennec disappeared back into his van, the other three mammals wandered over to the chairs and sat down, their feet resting on the mounts.

"I don't think this is going to work for me," said Barry. "I haven't exactly got fur on my feet to groom."

"Nobody's perfect," replied Nick.

"Except you?" asked Judy, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course Carrots, I'm practically perfect in every way," he boasted.

Judy just rolled her eyes and sat back as Finnick returned with a carry case of brushes and grooming supplies.

"Okay, since Wilde has probably never groomed his fur since I last saw him, he's going first."

"Hey! I resent that remark," he replied.

"Save it slick, I remember when you would crash with me, those feet of yours nearly stank me out of my own van."

"So? It's not like mammals actually get that close to my foot fur."

"A know a few rodents that would beg to differ, I dread to think what they would be like if you wore shoes."

"Now that you mention it," interrupted Barry. "I don't think I've seen any one of you guys wear shoes since I've been here, do you wear anything on your feet?"

"Only for tough jobs," replied Judy. "Construction work is one field where footwear is required by law, but mammals generally don't like to keep their feet constricted."

"Well, shoes are kind of a requirement for my job."

"I can imagine," she replied.

"Lucky for you I do shoes as well," said Finnick as he started combing the tats out of Nick's footfur. "So, Wilde, what brings you back to my neck of Zootopia?"

"Not much," he replied, nonchalantly. "Just wanted to see how my old buddy was doing, the grooming thing is new."

"I blame you for this, ever since you went straight, my girls been at me to do the same."

"So you're still seeing her?"

"You know it," he grinned. "Never thought she'd be into someone like me, but I guess anything can surprise you."

"Speaking of surprises," said Nick, discreetly slipping a ten dollar bill into his palm. "You hear about the robbery we foiled earlier today."

"I heard something had happened," he replied, taking the money. "Though the news was saying it was this new mammal, 'The Blur' or whatever he's called."

"It's The Flash," said Barry.

"Whatever."

"Anyways," said Nick "One of the guys we arrested was a porcupine called Spike; the funny thing is that he was declared dead two years ago."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, he can also shoot his own spikes, didn't realise porcupines could do that."

Finnick slowed his pace as he swapped out the comb for a small brush, his large ears pricking up and rotating like a pair of radar dishes.

"They can't," he said quietly. "But that not the only weird thing I've been hearing."

"What do you mean?" asked Judy.

"There's been a few, rumours, going around about mammals with…unusual abilities."

"Unusual how?" asked Nick, slipping his friend another bill.

Finnick pocketed the bribe before finishing his work and moving on to Judy.

"The stories going around a few of the gang hangouts are all different, I've heard everything from a mongoose hypnotising an entire room, to a pig flying out of a skylight on metal wings."

"Is there any pattern to their actions?" asked Barry. "Some sort of link?"

"Only that they seem to be the mercenary type," replied Finnick, as he groomed Judy's foot paws. "It looks like anyone can hire them for the right price, although I hear more than a few have been targeting Mr Big lately."

"What?" asked Judy, shocked that someone would challenge the most notorious crime boss in Tundra Town.

"Yep, those polar bears he uses as muscle, I've heard stories about them being beaten or killed during operations that these mammals have busted. Word is, this has been going on for months, but that old shrew uses his connections to keep things quiet."

Nick and Judy shared a look.

"What about Fru Fru, is she alright?"

"She's fine; I doubt he would let anything touch his prescious daughter and that kid of hers."

"Hey! I happen to be that kids godmother," replied Judy.

"And I'm sure she will grow up to be the happiest child in the world," he replied, quickly.

Judy sat back with a satisfied smile as Finnick moved on to Barry, swapping his grooming tools for a shoe brush.

"One last thing Finn," asked Nick. "Have you ever heard the name 'Sawbones?"

Finnick stopped in his tracks, the brush falling to the pavement as he froze in shock.

"Where did you hear that name?" he hissed.

"From our suspect," replied Barry. "I take it you do know who he is?"

"I know OF him, if that's what you mean, and he's bad news."

"What do you mean?" asked Nick, offering his friend another, larger, bribe. The fennec seemed to agonise over it for a moment, taking a nervous look around before snatching it from Nicks paw.

"Sawbones is the guy you go to if you want a mammal to either get better, or disappear entirely."

"So he's like a mob doctor?" said Barry.

"If he's like a doctor, then he's Flankenstein. Stories are going around of bodies turning up so mangled or mutilated that even the ZPD can't tell what they used to be. I hear they had to identify them by their dental records."

The fennec shuddered, before quickly packing up his gear.

"If you are going after Sawbones, then my advice is, don't."

"Thanks Finn," said Nick, handing him one final bill. "I owe you for this."

"I'll add it to the list," he replied. "You be careful out there Wilde, I've got few friends and I'd hate to lose you."

"Don't worry, I'll keep him safe," said Judy.

"I'll hold you to that," he replied with a smile. "See you round."

As Finnick returned to his van, the three mammals got back into Nick's car, the fox checking his wallet with a sigh.

"That was on expensive tip."

"But it was worth it," replied Judy. "If these mammals are targeting Mr Bigs' organisation, then maybe he can give us our next lead."

"I hope so," he replied, looking out of the car window at the setting sun.

"It's getting late," said Judy. "I'll contact Fru Fru and set up a meeting for first thing tomorrow."

"Good idea," said Nick. "So Barry, you got a place to stay?"

"Afraid not, I don't really have much except what I'm wearing."

"Well that's no good, you can stay with us tonight; the sofa pulls out into a bed for when Carrots has her parents come over."

"Thanks," he replied. "If it's not too much trouble, do you think we could find something to eat first?"

"You ate six boxes of doughnuts? How can you be hungry?" asked Judy.

"My powers have given me something of a hyper metabolism; I need about ten thousand calories a day. But the bright side is I don't put on any weight."

"Wish that was the same for everyone," she muttered. "Nicks been plying me with carrot cake for months now, I swear my uniform is getting tight."

"I can assure you Carrots, you haven't gotten any wider since we met. Of course you haven't gotten any taller either."

That earned him a slap from the bunny.

"Anyway, since Barry needs something full of calories, I say we order some takeout. I know just the place."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the dockyards of Zootopia, an undiscerning warehouse sat by the waterfront. To any casual observer it appeared to be run down and abandoned, the inside was another story.

Two raccoons, the only mammals to escape the foiled bank heist, stood nervously before an oak desk. Their employer, sat behind it, although they couldn't make out much of large mammal due to the low lighting. The most of him they could see was a single red optic, which glowed menacingly in the shadows.

"So let me get this straight," he rumbled, his voice carrying a metallic edge. "Not only did you fail the bank job, something that was apparently too complicated for you clods, but you also allowed Spike, who I enhanced at considerable time and expense, to be captured by the ZPD, who you are telling me have their own enhanced mammal, the one that has been appearing all over the news in the last day?"

Swallowing, the two raccoons slowly nodded.

With a feral roar that sounded like a rusty chainsaw, their employer smashed the desk to splinters before effortlessly tossing the two halves to one side with an armoured claw. His optic glared angrily in the darkness, illuminating a muzzle heavy with scars.

"GET OUT!" he screeched, and the racoons frantically scrabbled out of the room.

The cyborg mammal huffed and panted as he regained his composure, the glow from his optic fading as he did.

"So, the ZPD thinks this 'Scarlet Speedster' can match my mammals, we'll see about that."

He gave a deep, dark, laugh as he pressed a paw to the side of his skull.

"It's me. Get your crew together, we need to send a message."


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for the reviews and views guys, its cool to see people take an interest in this story. If it appears to cut off at the end I apologise, but I'm actuaally going on holiday for a week and wanted this posted before I left. I'll resume properly when I return.

Also, I was recently informed that there were apparantly hints that Birds may have evolved as well, but I didnt pick up on them and wrote this under the assumption that mammals were the only thing that evolved and thats what I am sticking to for this story. It just makes explanations a bit easier.

Anyways, please enjoy and I'll see you in a week.

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"What size is this supposed to be again?" asked Barry, as he ran his eyes over the noodle box that currently occupied the whole, back left seat.

"Medium," replied Nick.

"Are you sure?" he replied. "Only, I'm sure this could feed a family of four for a week."

"It did come off the menu for large mammals," replied the fox. "I'm just glad you didn't actually order a large, we wouldn't have been able to get it in the car."

Nick turned the car towards the apartment he shared with Judy, while the rabbit was finishing her telephone call with Fru Fru.

"Thank you for setting this up, give my love to little Judy, of course I'm still free for next week. I'll see you then, byeee."

She put away the device and turned to Nick.

"Fru's spoken to her father; he's willing to see us tomorrow afternoon."

"That's good news, now we might get a clue why he's being targeted."

"Just so I understand," said Barry. "Fru Fru is the daughter of one of this city's most notorious mob leaders, and Judy is the godmother to her child."

"That would be correct," she replied, turning to face him.

"How does that happen? I mean, doesn't it conflict with your job as a police officer?"

"Sometimes, but for the most part it's been quite helpful to the ZPD. I saved Fru Fru's life not long after I started, and Mr Big loves his daughter more than anything, so it got us some leverage when Nick and I worked our first case. Since then, Fru and I have kept in contact, even more so since her baby was born."

"Which gives you a contact in one of the highest places in the underworld," finished Barry. "I can understand how useful that its, but aren't you worried that you might end up as another dirty cop?"

"Nope," this time it was Nick that spoke. "Cottontail here has one of the strongest personalities I've ever seen, nearly got us iced the first time she met Mr Big in person. She has made it clear that we don't want to be part of his organisation, and he respected that out of love for his daughter."

"It's not an ideal relationship," continued Judy "The information he does give us ultimately helps him in one way or another, but the trade-off is that crime levels have either stabilised or dropped significantly not only in Tundra Town, but across Zootopia as a whole."

"True enough," replied Nick. "Besides, we'd rather deal with him than a few of the other mobsters in town."

"Better the devil you know," said Barry, knowingly. The CCPD had been forced come to similar arrangements with organised crime in the past. Heck, he had once tried, and failed, to do something similar with Captain Cold.

"Exactly, anyway, here we are."

Barry looked out the window as the vehicle pulled up next to a brick apartment building. It wasn't anything too grand, a simple structure with four stories and two staircases out front, one leading up to the entrance, and another to the basement level.

Getting out of the car, Nick headed to the basement staircase with the two smaller orders, while Judy helped a struggling Barry with his 'medium' box. Taking out a key; the fox unlocked the door and pushed it open, with Barry and Judy staggering in behind him.

The apartment had a low ceiling, at least for the human; he imagined it was reasonably high for the two mammals. The main floor consisted of a combined living/kitchen area, which had wooden cabinets and a black lino floor. A counter worked its way across two walls and down the centre of the room dividing the kitchen on the right from the living space on the left. This had a faded grey carpet and a sofa with a worn coffee table. There was a decent sized TV and some small cabinets lining the back wall, and Barry saw a hallway leading off into the rest of the apartment.

"Home sweet home," said Nick as he placed the smaller boxes on the counter. "It's not much, but Carrots and I realised early on that we could both have a half decent place if we became roomies."

"I'm sure he just agreed to it for the free housekeeping," said Judy, as she and Barry dropped his takeout box on the coffee table.

"At least I stopped leaving the milk out, I don't just do that for anyone," he replied, rummaging through cupboards for plates and cutlery.

"Only because I threatened to stop bringing back blueberries every time I visit my family."

"Those berries are heaven in a basket."

Barry couldn't help but smile as the two playfully bickered back and forth, they got along really well together and it was clear they cared about one another, a lot. It reminded him of how he and Iris had been before they realised their feelings ran much deeper, and he wondered if the same were true for the two mammals in front of him, despite their earlier protests.

"Take a look around if you like, bathrooms down the hall. I need to remember where I left the cups," said Nick.

"They're in the sink where you dropped them this morning," moaned Judy, as she went to assist her partner.

Barry chuckled to himself as he left them to prepare things, wandering over to the cabinets and examining their contents.

"I see you like horror movies," he said, scanning an impressive DVD collection.

"You can blame the bloodthirsty bunny over there for that one," replied Nick, pointing a thumb at Judy.

"It's true," she replied with a grin. "I can't get enough of them, the way the tension builds as the monster closes in on its prey, the slow dawning of realisation on their face before…"

She snarled and pretended to pounce on an imaginary victim, before reversing her role and swooning dramatically.

"Blood, blood, blood bloooood, and…death!" she waved her paws as 'blood' spewed from her 'wounds', before dramatically falling to the floor.

Barry chuckled.

"I prefer a good action flick myself," continued Nick, setting some plates on the coffee table.

"It turns out slick Nick is actually quite squeamish," replied Judy, getting up.

"I am not," he protested. "I just think that much blood should stay inside a mammal's body."

"You do realise that you might see worse as a cop, right?"

"She's got a point," said Barry. "Although experience doesn't really count given what you can see on the job."

"Yeah, well, you're in the same boat as me Fluff, horror movies or not," replied the fox.

"Then I guess we can go through it all together, can't we?" she replied with a smile. "Now, let's eat these things before they get cold."

Settling down on the sofa, Barry and his hosts opened their takeout boxes and dug in, the human at a surprisingly slower pace. This was not because he was being polite, but because his box was so large it took a bit effort to get the noodles out of the box and onto a plate.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" he said.

"Shoot," replied Nick.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but if predators and prey mammals are living together in Zootopia, how do you not eat each other? I mean, predators need a source of protein from somewhere, right?"

Nick and Judy shared a look before they burst out laughing.

"What?"

"Sorry Barry," said Nick between guffaws. "But it's kind of funny you haven't noticed."

"Noticed what?"

"That it's only MAMMALS that have evolved, birds and fish are still on the table. Which means even a 'savage fox' like me can enjoy a 'meat lover's special' now and again, although I wish they used more crickets."

That's stopped Barry in his tracks.

"Crickets?" he said in disbelief.

"Yeah, I like it when their roasted with some sesame oil and salt, delicious."

As the fox licked his lips, Barry felt himself turning green.

"I take it humans don't eat insects?"

"No, well, not where I come from anyway."

"What do you eat exactly?" asked Judy. "When I first saw you, I noticed that your teeth were flat, but I also saw a set of canines."

"Humans are omnivores, we can eat both meat and vegetables," he replied. "It has to do with how we evolved on our earth."

"On that subject, how did your species come about anyway?"

"It's something of a long story."

So, as they ate their meals, Barry told them about his earth, about humans, and humanity. He wasn't kidding when he said it was a long story, as the conversation lasted several hours, not counting moments where Nick and Judy would interrupt to ask questions or have him clarify something. As the time ticked on, he moved from humans in general to his own history, about how his mother's murder motivated him into becoming a cop, when everything changed in a flash of lightning, and how becoming The Flash meant he was able to finally able to bring the man responsible to justice.

"Wow, that's definitely something straight out of a comic book," said Nick.

"Sometimes I wish it stayed in the comics," replied Barry. "Every day I find myself facing threats that get worse and worse. The Tachyon Enhancer I showed you before, was created so I could face another speedster, Zoom, on a level playing field, but even then, I'm afraid I won't be fast enough to stop him. He broke me once, paraded my body in front of my friends and my city, he's made it clear he'll target anyone I'm close to. Some days, I just want to hang it all up and quit."

"So, why don't you?"

Barry gave him a determined look, and the fox swore that lightning sparked in the whites of his eyes.

"Just because he beat me once, doesn't mean he's going to do it again. Just because you lose once, doesn't mean you give up. Zoom has intimidated or killed anyone that might stand up to him; I'm doing this because I'm the only one who is fast enough to stop him. The next time we meet, I intend to win."

Silence fell as Barry finished, almost like the significance of what he had just heard deserved some time to settle.

"Wow, determination like that puts Cottontail here to shame," said Nick.

For once, Judy didn't feel like slapping him for being cheeky.

"It's because I have something to fight for, something worth protecting," said Barry.

"Yeah, I think we've all got something like that," replied the fox, his gaze wandering to the grey bunny that sat next to him.

"I wish we could help," said Judy.

"I'm sorry, but you can't," he replied. "No offense, but without super powers Zoom would beat you both in a split second."

"Then we will make a full effort to get you home after this case, your earth needs you!" she replied, eyes shining with her infectious determination.

Barry smiled.

"Thanks guys," he repleid.

"Its no problem," replied Nick with a yawn. "Guess all this heavy talk wore me out."

"It is kind of late," replied Judy. "Barry, Nick and I will clean up if you want to wash up, there's a spare toothbrush in the bathroom cabinet."

"Thanks Judy," he replied, stretching as he stood up. "You know, I think I might actually be full."

"Given what we saw earlier I didn't think that was possible."

"I'm sure I'll burn through them in about five minutes, I'll be back in a moment, and thanks again."

As Barry headed off to get ready for bed, the two police mammals tidied up the boxes and started scrubbing the plates.

"Hey Carrots," said Nick passing Judy a damp plate. "What Speedy said has me wondering, about fighting for something."

"You want to know what I fight for?" she replied, dishcloth in paw.

"I guess…I guess when I first came here it was to prove something, and fulfil my dream. I've wanted to be a police officer since I was a child, but everyone always said a bunny could never be a real cop. So I set out to show them that I could, and would, be the best cop that I could be. I beleived I could do that in Zootopia, where eveyone got along and anyone could be anything."

"And now?"

"Now...now I've been here a while, I'd say I dont have anything left to prove, at least to myself. Life is messy, but its like what I said at your graduation, 'change starts with all of us', so thats what I'm fighting for, the chance to change Zootopia into the dream it is to me and every other mammal."

"And now, here you are, not only one of the best police this city could ask for, but with a roguishly handsome partner to boot."

Nick gave his partner a cheeky wink, causing her to lightly slap him with the tea towel.

"You know you love me," he replied, without missing a beat.

Judy blushed.

They finished the dishes in good time and started getting the sofa-bed ready for Barry, Nick pulling out the base, while Judy retrieved a spare duvet and pillow set from a cupboard.

"What about you?" she asked. "Do you fight for anything?"

The fox paused.

All his life he had been nothing but a sneaky and untrustworthy foxy, because that's all that society would ever see him as. It wasn't until Judy that he realised he could be something more. After their first meeting she had supported him throughout his time at the police academy, offering help and encouragement whenever he felt like quitting, pushing him to break the mould he had been in for years

If it weren't for her, he'd still be selling pawpsicles out of the back of Finnicks van

"Yes, yes I do" he said, quietly.

Judy was about to ask what it was, when he quickly spoke again.

"Did I ever, thank you?"

"For what?" she replied.

"For believing in me, for helping me pull my life out of the gutter," he said, with more sincerity than she had come to expect.

Judy's expression softened as she crossed to the fox's side, laying a gentle paw on his arm.

"Nick, do you remember what I said, after you defended me in front of Bogo."

He smiled.

"You said I was so much more than what society thinks of me."

"And I meant every word; you helped me when no one else would."

"I think you blackmailed me into that one Carrots," he casually quipped, causing Judy to smile.

"Maybe," she replied. "But you could have walked away once I gave you the recorder, even after I apologised for…how I acted during the press conference, you could have left."

Nick saw some tears beading at the corner of her eyes, so he placed a comforting paw on her shoulder, although he was surprised when she nuzzled into it.

"You don't know how happy I was when you forgave me, because it wasnt until then that I realised, I didn't want to lose you Nick."

She started softly crying, so Nick he pulled her into a hug.

"You bunnies really are emotional," he said softly.

"Only around you… dumb fox," she replied between sniffles.

Nick felt his cheeks flush as Judy looked up from where she had buried her face in his shirt. Her lavender eyes sparkling as they locked with his own, the world seemed to just, fall away.

Nick found himself leaning in close.

"Judy…I-"

"Sorry for taking so long."

Barry's voice broke the moment, as the two mammals released each other in a panic.

The humaan paused awkwardly as they tried to appear nonchalant.

"Er, was I interrupting anything?"

"No!" They both sreplied, just a bit too quickly.

"Uh…Okay then...I'm just going to go for a quick run before we settle in, I'll be back in a little while."

With that, he edissappeared the flat in a gust of wind and flash of light, leaving the two mammals in an uncomfortable silence as they processed what might have been about to happen.

"Judy," said Nick. "I-"

"I know," she replied, wiping her eyes. "Let's just, talk about it later, we've got a case to solve and we won't be of any use to anyone if we're fighting sleep. Maybe we might catch a break tomorrow," she said, heading towards the bathroom.

"Yeah, maybe," he muttered quietly.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day, breakfast was somewhat subdued as both Nick and Judy mulled over what almost happened the night before. However, the mood had more or less evaporated by the time they had got to the ZPD as their minds moved to the case at hand, but neither really knew how to break the tension that seemed to have descended.

Then Nick saw Clawhauser.

The cheetah was slumped; face down, on the dispatch desk, a bubbling glass of Seltzer fizzing away near the microphone. An untouched box of doughnuts nearby.

The fox just couldn't resist.

With a sly grin, he sauntered casually up to the desk.

"Hey Benny, how's it going?"

Clawhauser groaned in response as Nick plucked a few doughnuts from the box.

"You sure you don't want any," he said, taking a bite from one chocolate covered pastry, slowly chewing as he savoured the sweet flavour.

Clawhauser looked up, his chubby cheeks still tinged of green. He took one look at the fox, deliberately over-relishing in the flavours of the pastry, before grabbing the waste bin from under his desk and heaving into it.

"Nick!" scolded Judy.

The fox looked back at her with his trademark confident smirk, before offering her a doughnut that had a carrot printed in the icing.

Judy hesitated for a moment, looking at him and the offered treat incredulously, before she gave in and snatched it from his paw.

"I'm still upset you did that," she muttered.

The tension was lifted, for the moment.

When Clawhauser had recovered, passing off the rest of the doughnuts to an eager Barry, he handed them a note from the crime lab, before heading off to empty the waste bin.

"Is that good news?" he asked, already finished with the box.

"Hopefully," replied Judy. "It says that Honey wants to see us straight away, she's cleared it with Bogo so we can miss roll call."

"Well then, let's go."

Returning to the crime lab, they found the badger had a visitor, in the form of a platypus in a trench coat and fedora. The pair was oblivious to their presence as they pored over some documents on a clipboard.

"Are you sure these results are accurate?" he said.

"Positive," replied the badger.

"That's…not good."

"What isn't?" asked Nick, gaining their attention.

"I see you got my message," she replied, before waving a paw at the platypus. "I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. This is Agent Percival from the Zootopia Investigation Agency."

"Call me Perry," he replied. "Everyone else does."

"Nice to meet you," said Judy.

"And you, Officer Hopps, Officer Wilde," he replied as Barry stepped forward.

"I'm Barry Allen," he said, offering a handshake.

"Pleasure," replied Perry, returning the handshake. "So when do I get to see you whizzing around in that red suit of yours?"

Barry was stunned.

"Does everyone know who I am around here?"

"You should probably be used to it by now," chuckled Nick.

"If I'm honest, it wasn't hard; you're a weird alien that shows up at the same time as The Flash, I'm just amazed the common mammal hasn't made the connection yet."

"That might be because he's never seen in public without his red pyjamas," quipped Nick.

"Yes, yes, we all know each other now, can we get back to business," interrupted Honey, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Indeed," continued Perry. "Honey called me in early this morning. I'm afraid there has been a development."

"What sort of development?" asked Judy.

"Firstly," said Honey. "The drug lab was able to conclude their analysis of the Night howler serum that you recovered."

"Did you find anything?"

"Indeed, we discovered that the serum had been mixed with a powerful stimulant whose chemical signature was similar to Cocaine, which made it harder to find."

"Because the Night Howler serum is also derived from a plant," concluded the bunny.

"Exactly," continued Honey. "From our testing, we believe that this concoction would have not only caused the serum to be absorbed into the user's blood much faster, it would have increased the effects."

"Great, as if we didn't have enough to worry about," muttered Judy.

"Then this may cheer you up," said Perry. "We may finally have a lead on your enhanced mammal. Honey completed the analysis of the materials that your suspect's spines were made of."

"And when I was unable to find a source, I called in Perry."

"The ZIA has been investigating sightings of these 'enhanced mammals' for some time," explained the platypus. "When Honey told me you had managed to catch one, I was assigned to assist in any way possible."

He pulled a file out from inside his coat and handed it to Nick.

"As we suspected, the materials used in those spines were not only high quality, but unique," explained the badger. "The ZIA were investigating the disappearance of specialist materials from businesses and government facilities from around Zootopia, in relation to the enhanced mammal sightings. Cross referncing our data, we found that the thefts started shortly before the first sightings began circling the city."

"Combining her analysis of the materials with our list of thefts," continued Perry. "We were able to find their source, Zootopia Bio labs."

"Never heard of them," replied Nick.

"That's because the owner has a reputation for secrecy, and so they have remained out of the public eye. It is a privately run and privately funded facility, with some of the tightest security outside of a bank vault. But here's the interesting thing, they specialise in experimental implants and prosthetics for deformed or crippled mammals, officially for the medical and cosmetics industry."

"But something like that could be easily weaponised given the right skill," finished Judy.

"Precisely, I suggest you head over their immediately, the address is included in the file."

"Thank you," replied the rabbit. "We'll get on this right away."

"Excellent," exclaimed Perry. "Now, my superiors have advised that you both work best when left to your own devices, furthermore I have my own leads to follow, but I expect to be kept in the loop about whatever you find over there."

"Don't worry, Agent P," said Nick with his trademark smile. "We'll let you know what we find."

"It's Perry," he replied, but they were already out the door.


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry for the long wait, going to a wedding then EGX will do that I'm afraid. Not much going on this chapter but the action picks up next time. Anyway, enjoy!

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While Nick, Barry and Judy were receiving their next lead, Chief Bogo was in his office reviewing the case file. The buffalo had considered putting on the Gazelle app to provide some background, but decided against it. This case was one of the most unusual the ZPD had ever dealt with, and it needed his full attention.

He was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door was pushed open by Grizzoli who was closely followed by Wolford, the pair snapped to attention in front of their boss.

"At ease, you're not cadets," rumbled Bogo. "Now, as you are here I can presume that you finished interrogating our suspect."

"Yes Sir, and he's given up some information about where he's been for the past two years," replied Wolford.

Bogo motioned for him to continue.

"From what he recalls, Spike blacked out after the gas explosion and woke up in what he thought was a hospital, but when we checked that against a patient list from medical facilities in the city and surrounding boroughs, there was no record of a porcupine that matched his description."

"Which means he was probably taken somewhere off the grid," replied Bogo.

"Exactly what we thought, sir," said Grizzoli. "From what Spike has told us, his spines had been completely burned away, along with most of skin."

"Really, because he certainly doesn't look like a burn victim."

"Agreed sir, we asked Honey and the lab to test a few skin samples and...well, the results aren't normal."

Bogo gave the officer a stern look.

"What did they find?"

"That's the thing sir," replied Wolford. "Spikes enhancements weren't limited to his spines, when Honey tested his skin cells; she found they were a mix of natural and artificial material. She also found they hadn't been grafted on like in traditional surgery, she thinks they might have been sprayed on, like from a can of dye."

"And it didn't stop there," continued Grizzoli. "She re-examined his X-rays and discovered his bones had been altered as well. She said it was like they had been made to grow in ways that reinforced them, making them tougher to break and possibly able to handle to launching system she found in his back muscles."

Chief Bogo leaned back in his chair digesting the information. Nick had phoned in the information from his contact, which supported the initial confession gleaned by Grizzoli and Wolford. With this new information, it was clear that 'Sawbones' had access to experimental or more likely, illegal, medical technology.

It could also mean he would be hard to take down, especially if he had more mammals like Spike.

"Did he say anything else?"

"Yes sir," said Wolford. "Apparently someone spoke to him, he couldn't see what species they were, and he was made an offer, either work for him and live, or refuse and be left to die."

"That might be how he recruits, find a mammal in a desperate enough situation and offer them a way out."

"Our thoughts exactly," replied Wolford. "But there is one more thing we should mention."

Bogo saw the two grins that the mammals were trying to hide, they had something significant.

"Go on."

"Apparently the bank job was part of a larger operation, Spike didn't know all the details, but he was supposed to meet a group of other mammals close to an address out near the edge of Sahara Square. We did some research and found out that it used to be a medical storage facility."

"The perfect place to hide if you want to enhance a few mammals," concluded Bogo.

"We thought so too sir, but the address is registered to a company affiliated with Mr Big."

That got Bogos attention, he had shared the information Nick uncovered with the two officers so they were aware that Mr Bigs' syndicate had apparently been the target of enhanced mammal attacks.

"So it's more likely that this was going to be another target," replied Bogo. "Excellent work you two, escort Spike to the holding cells, we may have further questions for him."

As the pair left his office, Bogo picked up his desk phone.

"Clawhauser, get me Agent Percival and send out an alert to the SWAT unit."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You sure this is the place?" asked Barry as the police cruiser pulled into the parking lot.

"Yup," replied Nick, "Why? Something wrong?"

"Not really," he replied. "I'm just having a case of déjà vu."

Zootopia Biolabs was situated on a hilltop just a few hours' drive out of Zootopia. They had to go through a security checkpoint to reach the main building, although they had some difficulty with the stubborn mule that guarded it.

When they were eventually allowed access, thanks partly to Nick's persuasive ability, Barry found that, standing proudly in the sunlight, was a copy of STAR labs, although this one didn't have any damage from a particle accelerator explosion.

Making their way inside, Barry saw that the similarities were not just limited to the exterior, as the interior was also identical, albeit with a bit more of an 'animal' theme, much like how the version on Earth 2 was decorated like something from early sci-fi.

As the group made their way across the lobby, the human attracting a few curious looks from the various mammals, they were approached by a white tiger in a lab coat.

"Welcome to Zootopia Biolabs," he said, offering a paw. "I'm Nathaniel Clawdon, owner and head researcher."

"Officer Judy Hopps, ZPD," replied Judy, shaking the paw. "This is my partner Nick and our friend Barry."

Nick and Barry also shook the tiger's paw, with the predator lingering a bit on the human.

"Interesting…" he said, studying Barry's appearance, "You're clearly a mammal, but I'm not familiar with your species. Tell me what do they call you?"

"Uh, the technical term is Homo sapiens, but human works for me," he replied with a nervous grin.

"And those teeth, clearly meant for a herbivore, but that wouldn't explain the presence of those canines…fascinating."

Barry shot his friends a pleading look as the tiger got uncomfortably close; Nick was doing his best not to laugh.

"Dr Clawdon," interrupted Judy. "If you don't mind, we came here because we are investigating the theft of rare materials from this facility."

That got the tiger's attention, as he immediately ceased studying Barry and turned to the rabbit.

"I see" he said, notably less enthusiastic than he had been a moment ago. "And where did you find this out?"

"It's in relation to another case we are working, and we would appreciate any help you can give us."

"I see…lets go to my office, we can talk some more in private."

Entering a glass lift, Clawdon pressed a button on the panel and the car began to ascend, giving them a good look at the buildings main floor. To Barry, having never got a good look at STAR labs on Earth 2, it was fascinating to look out over something that was so familiar, yet so different. However, unlike STAR labs, this building teemed with life as mammals of all sizes scurried back and forth, he even saw special paths and bridges for rodents.

"This place reminds of home," mused Barry.

"Ah, that must be a truly fascinating location," replied Clawdon.

"It can be," he replied with a grin.

With a gentle 'ping' the lift reached its destination and the group exited on to a veranda that overlooked the labs main floor. Crossing to a door marked with Clawdons name, the group filed inside.

The office was simply furnished, featuring a desk, a set of chairs and a dresser, with some filing cabinets situated along the left hand wall. A picture frame sat on the desk, facing away from the group, while sunlight streamed in from a large window on the opposite wall, and Zootopia could be seen gleaming in the distance.

Clawdon moved to sit behind his desk, while Nick and Judy took the two seats in front of it, leaving Barry to stand by the window.

"I hope you don't mind, but I would like to get straight back to business," he said. 'The possible theft of material from the facility is something of the utmost concern to me.'

"We understand," replied Judy. "And we thank you for your co-operation."

"Firstly, I must ask is your information accurate? We typically check each cargo manifest when taking deliveries or sending out equipment."

"You may want to start double checking them," replied Nick. "The ZPD recently foiled a bank heist, and the porcupine leading it had artificial spines, made from materials that we traced to this lab."

He decided to leave out the ZIA's involvement; something about the way the white tiger sat may have been projecting a calm appearance, but Nicks was starting to see a few cracks in Clawdons facade.

"As I mentioned, we do some work for the medical and cosmetic industry, if he got implants that were from here then I wouldn't be surprised."

"True," said Judy. "But he was also declared dead two years ago, and before this declaration, there was no indication he had undergone any cosmetic surgery."

"It could have easily been done later as a way to hide his identity." he replied. "Our implants are advanced but they are far from unique in the cosmetics industry."

"True, but these implants were, special."

"Special?"

Nick and Judy shared a look of affirmation.

"Our suspect was able to attack us, by shooting them from his back as a weapon."

Clawdon blinked, and Nick picked up a something in his eyes. The tiger knew something, and they were going to get it.

"Interesting…"he said, but the slight waiver in his voice was obvious to someone with Judy's ears, "We have been approached by military contractors about something similar, but I will tell you what I told them, such implantation is purely theoretical at this stage."

"Well someone made it practical," she replied. "Our information strongly indicates that these implants were made with materials from this lab, doctor. If there is anything that you might know, or suspect, please tell us now, or we will have to come back with a warrant."

Barry sat back and watched the two mammals work, it was so surreal. He was witnessing a white tiger in a lab coat, get interrogated, effectively he might add, by a rabbit and a fox in police uniforms. He had thought that he might need to step in and help, but this was their world and their territory, so he left them to it. But he hadn't been completely idle, as his heightened senses also picked up on each subtle hint of unease from the tiger.

"I'm sure it won't come to that officer," replied Clawdon. "I can assure you that the ZPD will receive my full co-operation in this matter."

"In that case, we will need to see your employee files for the loading dock," replied Judy.

"Certainly, let me get them for you."

Getting up, Clawdon crossed to the dresser and opened up a drawer, reaching inside, he rummaged for a few moments as he searched among the files.

Then Barry saw a glint of something metallic, not giving the tiger a chance to withdraw whatever it was, he was at the predators side and back at the window before anyone could blink.

The astonished tiger could only stare as loose papers blew from his desk, meanwhile, Nick and Judy took note of the item in Barrys hand, a heavy duty dart gun.

"Y…y…you," stuttered Clawdon. "You're the enhanced mammal from the news, you're The Blur."

"Actually it's The Flash," he replied, confidently. "Now, how about you explain to the nice officers what you were about to do with this?"

He dangled the gun from his finger like a toy, and took note of the predator's panicked glance towards the door.

"You do realise that running might not be the best choice?" said Barry.

"He's got a point," replied Nick, coming over to take the gun.

"Right now, you have two choices," said Judy as she approached the tiger. "Pulling a weapon on officers of the law is a serious offense, so you can either give up what you know, or we can drag you down to the station for an interrogation. Either way, we will get what we want; one just involves the possibility of prison."

Clawdon looked frantically between the three individuals, looking for something, anything, he could use to get away. But he was a scientist, not a hardened criminal, and he slumped to the floor in defeat.

Judy moved towards the tiger, preparing her handcuffs.

"She's going to die," said Clawdon, in a voice so quiet that even the rabbits ears struggled to pick it up.

"Excuse me?"

"I've failed her and he's going to kill her."

She shared a concerned look with her friends.

"Who's going to die?" she asked.

Clawdon gestured to the photograph on his desk, and Barry went to take a look. Lifting the frame, he saw the photograph showed Clawdon and a female white tiger smiling brightly at the camera.

"Is this your wife?" he asked, and the predator nodded in response.

"Her name is Lily, and this lab, my work, all of it was for her."

"What do you mean?" asked Judy, placing a sympathetic paw on his shoulder.

"There was an accident," he replied. "Her legs were crushed after her car skidded off the roads in the Rainforest District. We were told she would never walk again, but I couldn't accept that."

He slammed a fist onto the floor.

"I had a degree in bioscience and experience in the prosthetics industry from my work at Zootopia General. I took out a loan and built this lab from the ground up to help her, and others, that suffered from debilitating injuries."

He looked up at Judy, tears brimming in his eyes.

"Within a year I had created, and tested, the prototypes that eventually repaired my wife's legs. I can't tell you how happy she was when she took those first few steps. "But then it all went wrong, so very wrong."

His head fell into his paws.

"One night I came into the lab to find a group of mammals waiting for me, one of them I recognised as a patient of mine, a ram whose skull I had reinforced after a head injury, he had once suggested I could make any mammal into something more with my implants, make them into a weapon. I refused, but this time…this time he showed me an image of Lily with a knife at her throat."

He took a deep breath as he tried to compose himself.

"He said his boss was called 'Sawbones', and if I wanted to see my wife again, I'd give him my research and help them enhance a few 'friends'."

He looked up at the three mammals, tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Why didn't you report this?" asked Judy. "The ZPD could have helped."

"Because he couldn't risk her safety," replied Barry, remembering Dr Wells from Earth 2, and how Zoom had taken his daughter. "He doesn't know where she is or who he's dealing with, only that he can kill her at a moment's notice, and he will do anything to keep her safe."

The tiger looked up at the human, and nodded weakly.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" asked Nick. "Anything we can use to help find her and stop this menace?"

"I'm sorry, he only deals with me through proxies, and I don't get much warning before they arrive."

The fox shared a look with his partner.

"Clawdon," said Judy, pulling out a notepad and pen. "I am giving you my telephone number, if any of those mammals contact you, please, call me."

"It won't make any difference," he replied as she held out the scrap of paper. "He's made it clear that she can die at any time."

"That was when you were on your own, now you have us on your side. You've seen Barry move; he can be here in seconds."

Clawdon looked up at the human, whose face was set in grim determination.

"We will get her back," said Barry. "I promise."

The tiger looked up at the three mammals, and felt something he hadn't felt for months spark in his chest.

Hope.

"Alright," he said, cautiously taking the piece of paper. "I'll trust you."

"Thank you," replied Judy.

"You best get going, we've been in here a while now and I don't want to risk the staff gossiping."

"Understood," replied Nick, as they headed for the door. "Thank you for your co-operation doctor."

Exiting into the main building, the three mammals headed for the lift.

"Poor guy," said Nick.

"Don't be too tough on him," replied Barry. "I've got a friend who was in a similar situation; it's hard to choose the right course of action when your loved ones are threatened."

"Yeah, I guess I don't know how I would react in that situation," replied the fox, his gaze wandering over to Judy as she checked her watch.

"We need to get going," she interrupted. "Our meeting with Mr Big is in just over an hour and we need to get back to the city."


	9. Chapter 9

"Judy my child, it is truly a pleasure to see you again."

Judy smiled as she delicately kissed the elderly arctic vole on both cheeks.

"It is nice to see you again Mr Big, how is Fru Fru today?"

"My darling is as lively as always, she wishes she could have met you today, but her child needed attention." He chuckled a little, "I swear that girl will be a singer with her set of lungs."

Judy laughed a little as well, having been raised in a large family; she knew how loud an upset child could be.

"And Nicky my boy, how have you been? Are you still keeping your nose clean?"

"Clean as ever Mr Big," replied the fox.

"And I make sure it stays that way," replied Judy with a wink to her partner.

"That is good to hear," replied Mr Big. "I would hate to have another one of our…disagreements."

Nick swallowed nervously, it was always a puzzle how a mammal so small could project an air which made even lions nervous.

Barry stood awkwardly between two large polar bears as introductions were made. Although he was confident that if something did go wrong he could easily sprint them all clear, the imposing mammals still made him a bit apprehensive. Maybe it was due to the fact he was essentially in a scene from The Godfather.

"So, who is your friend there?" asked Mr Big, pointing a tiny claw at the human.

"Mr Big, this is Barry Allen, he's been helping us with our current case."

"Nice to meet you," replied Barry, stepping forwards for a handshake, only to realise an action like that would be impossible for the tiny mammal.

Mr Big eyed the offered hand suspiciously for a moment, and Barry noticed the large Polar Bears close in before the shrew waved them off.

"I will overlook this minor mistake because you are friends with the godmother of my grandchild," he replied dryly. "In future, be sure to show the proper respect to me."

Barry nervously withdrew the hand as Mir Big turned his attention back to Judy.

"I take it this case of yours was the reason for this meeting."

"Yes," she replied, "and we think that you could be a big help in solving it."

"You see," continued Nick. "There are some rumours going around that …unusual mammals might be targeting your businesses."

"Are there?" replied the shrew. "Well, you know how mammals can gossip these days."

"Of course," said Judy. "But if we had, hypothetically, arrested one of these unusual mammals, and he had given up the name of their boss..."

She let the question hang for a moment, Mr Big remained silent for a moment as he mulled over the information.

"It would therefore be prudent for a responsible citizen, like myself, to offer assistance to the investigating officers," he said.

"Indeed it would," replied Judy. "If these mammals were disrupting your businesses, harming the economy of this city in the process, then it is our duty to make sure that they are apprehended as soon as possible."

"So it would," he replied, leaning back in his tiny chair.

The method of conversation was nothing new between them; the two had learned that Mr Big never really 'spoke' about his affairs. So they had to deal with hypotheticals that weren't really, hypothetical. The old shrew didn't get where he was by being too direct about his activities after all, and he would only start being straight with them once he knew how he would benefit.

"These rumours you have heard," said Mr Big. "They are correct. These strange mammals have caused chaos in my business dealings, and even my strongest associates have been unable to stop them."

The gigantic polar bear that sat at the full sized desk behind Mr Big grunted and rubbed his shoulder with a pained expression.

"These mammals have disrespected me with their actions, if they were to be stopped, then I would be grateful."

"Thank you," replied Judy, preparing her notepad and pen. "If you don't mind I would like to ask if there's a reason for-"

They were interrupted by the office door opening as another Polar Bear entered with something cupped in his paws.

"Koslov, you know I do not like to be interrupted during my meetings," scolded Mr Big.

"I know boss," he replied. "But I've got something you might want to hear."

The bear moved to the desk and opened his paws to reveal another arctic shrew, this one in a full suit and tie. Quickly moving to Mr Bigs' chair, he frantically whispered something into the elderly shrews' ear.

Nick and Judy shared a look, while Barry tensed his body in preparation for a fast exit.

"It would seem your colleagues at the ZPD are ahead of you," said Mr Big. "My aide reports that they have surrounded one of my facilities in Sahara Square."

"What?!" exclaimed Nick, nervously glancing at the Polar Bears. "I can assure you, we had no idea this was going on."

"Relax Nicky, I believe you."

"You do?" he replied, anxiously.

"I do, for, if you had known, then you would have undoubtedly been a part of the operation."

He leant forwards.

"You see, I received a tip that this facility was to be these mammals next target, so I moved my operation before the strike. My informant tells me that several of these mammals have since entered the building, and the ZPD now surround it."

"We have to get there," interrupted Barry. "If those mammals are enhanced, they don't know what they are walking into."

Mr Big glared at the human before returning his attention to Judy and Nick.

"Your friend is right," he said. "I have lost several close associates to these creatures. If you don't want to grieve for your friends, I suggest you get moving."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Keep those mammals back sergeant!" bellowed Chief Bogo.

"Yes sir," replied the Timberwolf as he turned to the growing crowd of onlookers.

"Chief Bogo!" The Cape buffalo turned to see Agent Percival approaching him.

"Agent Perry," he replied. "What's the situation?"

"The building is completely surrounded and there has been no activity, however, local mammals are saying they saw a group enter just before we arrived."

"Anything since then?"

"Nothing," he replied, adjusting the collar of his trench coat. "If Big had some of his goons in there, they might have put up enough of a fight to distract them from our arrival."

"We can only hope," he replied. "We just need to make sure there are no-"

He was cut off by a burst of lightning as The Flash appeared before him.

"-complications."

He gave Barry a withering look.

"I thought I told Officers Hopps and Wilde to watch you."

"They are," he replied with a cheeky grin, just as Judy and Nick jogged over from the SWAT van, hastily adjusting a set of police riot gear.

"Hey chief, how's it going?" said Nick with his own trademark grin.

Bogo growled at the fox before pointing at Barry.

"Get him out of here!" said the Buffalo, through clenched teeth. "And how did you know about his operation anyway?"

"We were interviewing Mr Big about the case, and he had an informant watching the building," replied Judy.

"Of course he did," muttered the buffalo, pinching the bridge of his snout in frustration.

"Listen," said Barry. "Even armed like this you don't know what you're walking into. On my earth, humans with powers have destroyed entire SWAT units, collapsed buildings and even lifted a tanker like it was nothing. I'm telling you, if you go in there without me, it will end in disaster."

"He has a point Bogo," replied Perry. "If those things are as dangerous as my information suggests, we will need all the help we can get."

Bogo looked at the platypus and then at Barry, his expression set in that near permanent scowl that he always had.

"Do as we say, and don't try anything funny," he growled, jabbing a finger at Barry for emphasis.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he replied.

Bogo gave him one final, hard, stare, before storming off towards the ZPD's mustering area.

"Glad to have you on board Mr Allen," said Agent P, before he followed after Bogo.

Barry took a second to look around; the SWAT team were closing in on the squat, brick building, making sure to cover each entrance in case someone decided to make a break for it. If they went in together then it would hopefully be over in minutes, but he knew from experience that nothing was absolute when dealing with super powered criminals.

"Sorry about Bogo," said Nick, breaking the human out of his thoughts. "But like I said before, under that exterior is someone with a heart of gold. Hopefully he'll come around once he sees you in action."

"We can only hope," replied Barry, just as Nick's radio crackled to life.

"Team A in position," said Bogos voice. "All units check in."

"Team B in position," Said the voice of Agent P.

"Team C in position," came a third, which Judy recognised as belonging to Officer Mc Horn.

"All teams, remain in position while officers Hopps and Wild join Team A, they are bringing a…tactical asset to the field," replied Bogo, reluctantly admitting that Barry was on site.

"Well, time to go," said Nick, and he and Judy jogged after Bogo, meeting his team by one of the buildings side entrances.

As Barry joined them in a flash of lightning, some of the startle SWAT unit quickly pointed their heavy Taser rifles at him.

"Don't worry, he's on our side," said Judy, as she an Nick took position, their own Tasers at the ready.

"So keep your eyes on the job," rumbled Bogo, and the team immediately refocused their attention on the door. Even a superhero was not worth risking the chief's wrath.

"All units prepare battering rams on my mark," said Bogo, as a horned ram took position in front of the entrance, a heavy looking helmet on his head.

"Mark!" as soon as the word left his lips, the ram sprinted at the door, his armoured skull shattering the wood to splinters.

As soon as the way was clear, Barry sprinted inside, the ZPD right behind him. They had entered a dark storage room, with a second door that led to the buildings main floor. As the ZPD began to sweep the building, Barry used his speed to rapidly check every room to ensure there were no nasty surprises waiting for them.

As they swept through the building, the ZPD discovered the interior of the unassuming building was anything but ordinary. The main floor consisted of shelves stacked with cutting edge medical technology, and pristine laboratories were found adjacent, each full of refrigerators packed with chemicals and drugs that many didn't recognise. There were signs that some equipment had been removed, marks on the floor and a few empty containers, but it was clear Big had cleared out in a hurry if there was still this much stuff to find.

As the sweep continued, Barry quickly found himself back on the main floor, with Team A.

"Looks like Mr Big really doeshas his paws in everything," said Nick, examining one of the boxes.

"Which is why this was a prime target," replied Judy. "But where are the mammals that he reported?"

"I checked the whole building," said Barry. "There's a broken window around the back but nothing else, it's like they vanished into thin air."

Bogo could feel himself tense as Barry spoke, he might not like vigilantes, but the human had a point, if this was a sabotage operation, where were the saboteurs?

"All teams check in, any sign of the intruders," he rumbled into his radio.

"Negative Chief," replied Mc Horn.

"Nothing on my end either," replied Agent P.

Bogo growled.

"They have to be here, we didn't see anyone leave."

"And you are correct, no one did leave," replied a haughty voice.

The entire SWAT team span to face the speaker as he stepped out of the shadows; he was a leopard, lean and trim, the perfect build for a runner. He wore a black bodysuit and held a hood casually in one paw as he approached the ZPD.

"I must say, you got here quicker than expected, which is good, my associates and I don't like to be kept waiting."

More mammals began to emerge from the shadows, a swarm of rats that moved like they were a single creature, a wolverine with metal claws that shimmered menacingly in the half light. A timber wolf with a scar across his throat, a panther that seemed to disappear into the shadows like a ghost, and finally, a rhino, far bigger than any in existence, lumbered his way into view behind the cheetah.

"You don't know how difficult this was to set up, especially hiding this guy," said the cheetah, as he pointed to the rhino. "Thankfully, Shimmer over there was more than up to the task."

"By the authority vested in me by the City of Zootopia, you are all being placed under arrest," snapped Bogo ignoring the criminals monolgue, but the cheetah just laughed before turning his attention to Barry.

"So, you are the one that's been on the news lately. Do you prefer The Streak or The Blur?"

"It's The Flash," he replied.

"Catchy," dismissed the predator. "You know, Sawbones was going to come here himself, but I convinced him that this was more my field of expertise."

"Oh yeah, what makes you so special?"

The cheetah smiled menacingly.

"Sawbones doesn't just do technological enhancements you know, he likes to do a bit of chemistry as well," he gestured to the rhino. "Brick here was the result of one such experiment, reduced brain power, but the increased strength makes up for that in spades."

He pulled an EpiPen from a pocket on his suit.

"But strength isn't the only thing that the boss's chemicals can do."

Before anyone could stop him, the cheetah jammed the pen into his leg.

"Kill the others, but The Flash is mine," growled the predator.

As the enhanced mammals closed with the ZPD, Barry readied himself to face the cheetah, but then something made him pause.

Lighting had begun to course over the predator's body.

Blue lightning.

"What..did you say your name was?" he asked, dread swelling in the pit of his stomach.

"I didn't," he replied, his voice deepening to a deathly rattle. "But since you asked, my name is Hunter."

He pulled on the hood, and Barry's blood turned to ice as a familiar face greeted him, one that had haunted him every night for the last year as the face of death itself.

"Although, I prefer Zoom."

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 **Cliffhanger!**

 **Sorry for the wait but I got sick and I needed to revcover a bit first. I'm glad to see people enjoying this story, I might not get out another chapter before christmas, so dont worry. Holidays take time away from these things after all and I will be back in January with luck.**


	10. Chapter 10

Zoom launched himself towards Barry, shattering the sound barrier with a thunderous roar. The ZPD could only watch helplessly as he was tackled out of the building in storm of yellow and blue lightning.

Barry was vaguely aware of someone calling his name.

A doppelganger, why hadn't he seen it coming? Just because he couldn't find doubles of his friends didn't mean that there were none of his enemies. But of anyone he could have encountered, from Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd and even the Reverse Flash, it just had to Zoom.

As he struggled to fend off super speeded blows from the enhanced mammal, Barry's mind ran faster than he did. His version of Zoom used a similar drug called Velocity 9, or V9, to enhance his natural speed, and he had seen it give powers to a normal human as well. However, like any drug, an overdose could leave lasting damage, and even kill the user. If this Zoom was given the V9 by Sawbones, then he might not be aware of the side effects.

The two screeched to a halt in the city's main square, mammals all around them scattered in panic.

"You have to listen to me," said Barry, as he tried to reason with Hunter. "That drug you have, I've seen it before. It's called V9, it's dangerous. I don't know what you've been told, but it's going to kill you!"

Zoom responded by sprinting towards Barry and knocking him to the floor with a high speed punch.

"I don't care!" he growled.

He reached for Barry's throat, but the speedster dashed behind Zoom.

"Why?" he asked. "Why don't you care?"

Zoom slowly turned to face him.

"I was a cripple Flash, born with deformed legs. Do you know what that's like for a Cheetah?!"

He sprinted at Barry once again, but the metahuman had already started to move and they met in a high speed storm. Yellow and Blue lighting spat and arced all across the square in a hurricane of power before Barry was tossed unceremoniously into a wall, Zooms' claws around his throat.

"Running is part of who we are as mammals; a cheetah that can't run may as well be dead. My own family disowned me and I was left to rot in a flawed care system. Then I was found by Sawbones, he rebuilt me, gave me my power, and I repaid him by training to be the ultimate killing machine."

He lifted one of his arms, making a fist with his paw as it began to vibrate.

"He did more that fix my legs Flash; he made me a force of nature!"

He went to run Barry through, but the metahuman managed to phase out of his grip with a similar trick, leaving Zoom to punch a hole in the wall.

Withdrawing his fist in a cloud of masonry, the cheetah turned to glare at The Flash.

"If it kills me, so what? I never had anything to lose, and I am more now than I ever will be. I will make the streets of this city run red with blood until my name is etched into its very soul!"

"Listen, it's not you talking right now, it's the V9," implored Barry. "Stop this now before someone gets hurt."

Zooms laugh was like the rattle of bones.

"The only one getting hurt right now Flash, is you!"

With that, he charged at Barry once more, and the two speedsters rocketed out of the city centre.

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While The Flash and Zoom battled across the streets of Zootopia, the ZPD were in serious trouble.

As soon as the two speedsters had left, the remaining enhanced mammals quickly closed with the SWAT officers. The Rhino, Brick, had charged the line of shields and knocked them aside like ninepins, while the swarm of rats followed in his wake, engulfing the exposed officers in a mass of needle like teeth and claws.

Bogo leapt back as the steel clawed wolverine lunged at him. Drawing his truncheon, the buffalo deflected a follow up attack; however when he went to exploit the opening, the predator not only blocked his attack, but neatly sliced his club into three pieces.

As Bogo was forced on to the defensive, Nick and Judy fought against the scarred wolf. As the predator swiped his own claws at Judy, Nick blocked the blow with his own truncheon, allowing his partner to launch herself off his shoulders and land a solid blow to the side of the lupines head.

Staggering back, the wolf growled angrily at them. Then it howled.

The ZPD mammals dropped to their knees as the shriek pierced their eardrums, Bogo barely had time to avoid another slash from his opponent as the ringing threatened to overwhelm his senses. The Wolverine continued on, unfazed by the attack, but the rat swarm writhed uncontrollably as its cohesion fell apart.

However it was Judy that was having the worst of it. At close range and with her sensitive hearing, it felt like someone was driving hot needles through her eardrums. She fell to the floor in agony, as Nick, also on the verge of collapse, desperately hurled his club at the wolf.

The weapon struck the predator in the throat with a meaty thud, the lupine gagging as his howl was immediately silenced. Staggering back, the predator clutched at his throat, moments before Nick tazed him into unconsciousness.

"You alright Fluff?" he asked.

"I think so," replied Judy, shaking her head in an effort to clear it. "Can you hear a ringing?"

Nicks reply was cut off as his partner roughly pulled him to one side moments before Brick came barrelling past them and through several shelving units. At the end of his run, the Rhino, unfazed by the obstacles, simply turned to face the police mammals and charged at them once more.

Leaping clear with her partner, Judy pulled out her tazer and hit the rhino in one of his massive legs as he crashed through a concrete wall. However, her yell of triumph was cut short when Brick pulled himself out of the rubble, and casually pulled the metal barbs out of his leg.

She prepared to run as the Rhino lined himself up for another charge.

"Open Fire!"

The voice of Officer Mchorn echoed throughout the room as the other ZPD teams stormed the battle, tranquilliser darts aimed squarely at the oversized Rhino. As they rained down on his thickened skin, Agent Perry dropped from the ceiling light he had been clinging to, and landed right on the mammals face. As Brick tried to shake him off, the ZIA agent drove his species poison spurs into the enhanced mammals nose, hoping that the flesh might be soft enough for a result.

Brick continued to fight, regardless of the drugs in his system, if anything they had inadvertently made him more dangerous, as he know careened over the battlefield like a runaway freight train. Judy managed to pull Nick into a side room and out of the titanic mammal's path as it crashed through shelves, walls and trampled the still disorientated rat swarm. However, even a mammal like Brick couldn't stave off the level of chemicals that now coursed through his system, and Agent Perry threw himself clear as the rhino he collapsed to the floor with a resounding crash.

"Sweet Cheese and Crackers!" exclaimed Judy as she surveyed the carnage.

"You said it Fluff," replied Nick as he watched the rhino finally go down. "Do we even have a cell big enough for him?"

"Would it even hold him if we did?"

"Good point."

"Okay, so that's the rats, rhino and wolf," said Judy, ticking off the mammals on her paw. "That leaves the wolverine-"

There was an ear splitting crack, and the two mammals looked out to see Bogo standing over the unconscious wolverine, his SWAT shield shattered in two.

"Okay, so that just leaves the panther."

"About that, have you seen her since the fighting started?" asked Nick.

"…no I haven't," said Judy. "And I have the feeling we won't like it when we do."

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Lightning struck all over Zootopia as Zoom and The Flash battled for supremacy. To the mammals that bore witness it was like a living thunderstorm had been unleashed on the city, electricity spat and arced between the two speedsters as they fought through each of the metropolises' unique environments.

In Tundra Town, Zoom tried to drown Barry by shattering one of the frozen lakes with a bolt of electricity, but The Flash managed to keep his footing and pursued the evil speedster across the icy water and straight into Sahara Square. The two of them ran out into the districts more open regions, and sprinted around one another, stirring up a sandstorm as they did.

As they battled it grew in intensity, until the sand was so thick that observers could only make out flashes of lighting wherever the two speedsters traded blows. Inside the whirling vortex, both Barry and Zoom could barely make out one another as they fought, so, when presented with an opportunity, Zoom tackled his opponent clear of the storm before taking off towards the Rainforest District.

With The Flash in hot pursuit, Zoom ran straight into the higher levels of the jungle canopy, weaving between the walkways as he looked to trip Barry by using the districts almost constant rainfall to his advantage. However, The Flash knew what he was getting into and managed to not only keep his footing, but built enough momentum to punch Zoom with the force of a freight train.

Flying backwards, the dazed cheetah flew off the walkway and tumbled towards the ground. Fortunately, several large leaves slowed his descent and as a result he was able to recover and generate a cushion of air by rapidly rotating his arms.

As Zoom landed, Barry was already there to grab him by the scruff of his neck.

"That drug won't last forever Zoom!"

"It doesn't have to Flash," replied the dark speedster. "It just has to last long enough."

Barry hesitated, a pit forming in his stomach.

"What did you do?"

Zoom began to laugh, a deep guttural laugh.

"Sawbones wanted to send a message, one that the whole city could see."

He looked The Flash dead in the eyes, and Barry felt his stomach drop.

"So he gave me a few throwaway mammals and enough explosive to level a city block, all I had to do was keep you away while Shimmer finished the setup."

The cheetah began to laugh once more.

"Tick tock Flash."

With an angry snarl, Barry released Zoom and took off back towards the warehouse, praying that it wasn't too late.

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While the ZPD rounded up the defeated henchmammals, Nick and Judy began to sweep the warehouse for signs of the missing panther. Taking it in turns to cover each other, they meticulously moved through the outlying rooms one by one, passing between shelves that were stacked high with beakers and bottles of various coloured chemicals. Eventually, Judy's sensitive hearing, having recovered from the wolf's howl, picked up a noise, and the pair moved in on its source.

Bags of powdered chemicals had been stacked amongst the shelves, and setting an explosive was the panther from before, her form shifting in and out of sight as she knelt by the device.

Silently sneaking up on the predator, Judy signalled for Nick to flank the feline while she set up a shot with her tranquiliser sidearm.

However, the panther disappeared before either of them could take a shot.

Sharing a look of silent panic, the two officers regrouped.

"Any idea where she went?" whispered Nick.

"None," replied Judy. "Cover me while I go for the bomb."

Moving towards the explosive, Judy had a half second to react as a claw materialised from thin air to take a swipe at her.

As she leapt backwards, Nick fired a shot from his own tranquiliser, only for the dismembered appendage to vanish like smoke as the dart sailed harmlessly through it.

Judy recovered quickly and made another dash for the explosive, only for the panther to materialise right in front of her and lunge towards the rabbit with a snarl. Leaping sideways, she kicked out with her powerful legs, but the feline vanished once more, and her attack missed.

The pattern repeated a few more times, as Judy or Nick would advance on the bomb, the panther would appear and drive them back.

Standing back to back, the two mammals struggled to remain calm.

"Any ideas Carrots?"

"I'm open to suggestions slick!"

As the pair scanned the room, Judy's hearing pricked up again.

"Nick," she whispered. "When I say so, turn around and shoot directly at me."

"What, are you nuts?"

"Trust me on this Nick," she replied. "Please."

The fox looked back at his partner, determination set in her lavender eyes.

"Alright fluff," he replied. "Tell me when."

The two returned to scanning the room for a target, only this time Judy's ears were wide open. As Nick readied his tranquiliser, the pair prepared themselves for what might happen

Judy heard a click from right in front of her.

"Now!"

Nick spun around and pulled the trigger, just as Judy ducked straight down. The dart flew right between her ears and embedded itself right between the lunging predator's eyes. As soon as the tranquiliser took effect, the panther's momentum caused it to fly over the Judy and right past Nick where it crashed on the facility floor.

"Nice shot," said Judy.

"Didn't know I had it in me," replied Nick, sheepishly.

With the threat dealt with, both mammals ran over to the bomb, intending to disarm it. Only they found that its timer had been set, and was counting down from ten seconds.

The mammals felt their spirits fall, there was no way they could disarm it in time. They took one last look at each other, wishing there was time say what was needed.

"Nick."

"Judy."

Judy hugged her partner, and abruptly then shoved him back behind one of the shelves, some part of her hoping that he would survive the coming blast. As the bomb detonated, the explosion threw the rabbit back into one of the other units, chemicals cascading down onto her body.

Barry burst onto the scene in a thunderclap, racing towards the stricken bunny and her partner. From his perspective it was like the explosion was occurring in slow motion, the fireball expanding slowly outwards behind the shockwave. If he didn't act quickly, it would consume everything in a matter of seconds.

He grabbed Judy first and then circled back for Nick, taking the pair outside before racing back in. Dropping the panther outside with the ZPD, he noted that several of the larger mammals were still inside the building trying to move the unconscious form of Brick.

Realising they were going to be too heavy for him to move, The Flash ran back towards the detonating bomb. The fireball had already engulfed the chemicals that had been stacked around the explosive, and if it spread to the rest of the room then the building would go up in smoke.

Duplicating his trick from the burning apartment, Barry ran around the fireball as fast as he could, creating a swirling vortex as he pulled the oxygen away from the flames. Even at supersonic speed he wasn't confident it would work. But, thankfully, the explosion responded to the sudden lack of oxygen by snuffing out like a candle.

Without waiting, Barry ran back outside, where Nick was cradling an injured Judy Hopps.

The flames had burned away the fur on her exposed paws and part of her face, thankfully her uniform had protected her from the worst of the damage, but it was a charred mess, and the flesh beneath it was undoubtedly burned as well. The rabbit was unconscious, a large bruise forming on her skull.

Nick pleadingly looked up at the speedster.

"Please, save her. Zootopia General is in the city centre, I won't make it in time, but you can."

With a nod, Barry took the bunny in his arms, and disappeared in a flash of lightning.

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 **Sorry for the lateness, and the cliffhanger, but life kinda took priority for a bit. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!**


	11. Chapter 11

The hospital room was cold and smelt faintly of disinfectant, but Nicholas Wilde didn't notice. All his attention was focused on the bandaged bunny that lay on the bed before him. Barry paced nervously nearby, he hadn't changed out of his uniform since he brought Judy in, but had his mask pulled down.

The Flash's arrival at Zootopia General Hospital had initially startled the staff, but when he showed them the injured police mammal they sprang into action. Judy had spent three hours in surgery as doctors worked to save her life, the explosion and subsequent collision with a shelf had broken several bones and caused significant internal bleeding.

The surgeons worked tirelessly, but she had been getting weaker by the second. She needed a miracle.

So Barry had told the staff about his rapid healing factor and donated some of his enhanced blood, reasoning they could use a centrifuge to separate the base componants and use it as a vaccine.

The effects had been instantaneous.

Judy now lay on a bed, swathed in bandages and a hospital gown. Her breathing was shallow and her vitals low, but she was stable and slowly recovering.

"This is my fault," Barry had been so lost in thought he hadn't heard Nick speak.

"If I had just, moved quicker, we could have taken down that panther."

"Hey, it's not your fault."

"But it is!" snapped Nick. "We're partners, we're supposed to look out for each other! I let this happen...I...I failed."

His ears drooped as he looked back at Judy's unconscious form.

"You know, when we met I was just a street hustler. I lived my life conning mammals out of anything I could, money, food, even a car once. Then this bunny cop shows up dressed like a meter maid and I think, 'here's another gullible mammal I can use'.''

He laughed weakly.

"Then she shows up again a day later and blackmails me into helping her solve a case. I try to make it as difficult as possible, but she just doesn't give up..."

He looked up at Barry, gently taking one of Judy's bandaged paws in his own.

"Then she went and did that, she could have saved herself, but she chose to save me. Why? Why me?"

"Listen," said Barry, softly laying a hand on the fox's shoulder. "I know what it's like to fail someone close, believe me I do. But I've learned the hard way that you can't always account for other people's actions, especially if they care about someone."

He looked over at Judy, her chest rising and falling as she slept.

"That's why she saved you Nick. When you two are together she walks a little taller, smiles a little more often. Given what I walked in on the other night, it's obvious that she doesn't just care about you, she loves you."

Silence fell, broken only by the sound of Judy's heart monitor.

"Would...you mind leaving...for a moment?" asked Nick, quietly. "I...want to speak to her."

"Sure," replied Barry. "I'll be right outside."

Nick didn't bother to look up as the human exited, he just waited until he heard the door close.

He took a deep breath.

"Carrots...Judy...I… I really don't know how to start, so...I guess I'll start at the beginning."

He shifted his chair closer to the bed.

"When we met I...kinda just saw you as another country hick that thought they could make it in the big city. Another mammal that would burn out when society applied pressure, but...you did something I hadn't seen before. You kept going, you never gave up, you...never lost that smile. You got under my skin like no one else...and had so much faith in me, even when I was a jerk. But more than anything you showed me I could be more, that I could DO more."

His voice began to crack as he continued, his emotions bubbling to the surface.

"When that press conference happened it felt like my heart had shattered into a thousand pieces. Then you came back, you apologised...you made an effort to reconcile with a predator, a fox, not many mammals will do that. I think it was then I realised just how much you meant to me."

He buried his muzzle in the bed sheets as the dam finally broke, tears flowing freely down his muzzle and onto the bed as Nick wept.

"Please Judy, please come back...I don't know what I'll do without you. I...I love you too."

He buried his muzzle in the bed sheets as he became wracked with sobs.

"Nick…"

The voice was quiet, raspy, almost unhearable, but the fox had heard it nonetheless. He felt the paw he held slowly move and grip his own as he looked up, blinking away tears from red rimmed eyes.

Judy was looking at him, her glistening lavender eyes poking out from between the bandages.

"How long?" he asked.

"Long enough," she replied. "You know, I never said anything because I didn't want to ruin what we had. I thought that if you knew how I felt, it might have driven you away. The truth is Nick, I was scared, I've never felt this way about any mammal before, let alone a fox."

She took a wheezing breath.

"I don't regret what I did, because the truth is no matter how much you might drive me up the wall, you always make me feel special. I meant it when I said you were more than a simple con fox, you are one of most faithful and honest mammals I have ever met...relatively speaking."

They both shared a weak laugh and she felt Nick gently squeeze her paw.

"I guess...what I'm trying to say is that, I'd love to see where this goes."

Her partner smiled as he leant in close to softly nuzzle the bunnys' cheek.

"So would I," he replied, as he felt Judy lean into his touch. "So would I."


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry for the long delay, I recently moved house and had to unpack as well as set up and get the internet sorted. Anyway, your patience is rewarded with a new chapter as we begin to build to the finale!**

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Barry sighed as he lent against Judy's door, his mask was once again pulled up, although that was more out of habit than anything else. As he stood there, the superhero saw that he was attracting a few stares from the hospital staff, normally he would have been speaking with them, joking, laughing, maybe even getting food, he found it was a great way to get to know the people he helped. It made what he did feel more personal.

Right now though, he didn't feel like talking to anyone. He hadn't known Judy long, but the bunny had made an impression on him with her courage and positive attitude, she actually reminded him of Iris. Maybe she was her double for this universe, but wouldn't that make Nick his double? Alternate realities could be so confusing.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of heavy hoofsteps. Looking up, Barry saw Bogo rapidly approaching. Roughly pushing his way through doctors and patients alike, the chief of the ZPD didn't stop until he was staring Barry down.

"A word," growled Bogo, pointing at an empty room across the hall.

The human knew what was coming, the buffalos dislike for him had been made clear at their first meeting. However, he wasn't just going to let Bogo lay into him without a fight. As the door shut behind them, he launched straight into his argument.

"I know what you're about to say, that it's my fault that Judy got hurt, that I'm the reason these enhanced mammals suddenly appeared in Zootopia."

Bogo folded his arms and gave the human a stern look, but Barry stood his ground and continued on.

"I get that you don't like me, there are police back home that don't like me. All they see is the vigilante that could turn on them at any given time."

Then, perhaps in a rather stupid move, he stepped up to Bogo and poked him in his muscled chest.

"But the truth is that your fears are unfounded. I have done nothing to betray the trust of your officers, and I have co-operated with the ZPD at every turn. The fact is, those enhanced mammals have always existed and would have attacked you regardless. All my appearance did was force them out of the shadows sooner."

Barry's heart was hammering against his ribcage as he stared down the buffalo, he might have super speed, but the human was still intimidated by the large mammal, although he hoped that it did not show.

"Furthermore, had I not broken the dimensional barrier, Judy would have died before long before this. In the short time I've known her, it clear she's a brave cop who truly puts the needs of others over her own, it's why she was in that burning building, it's why she pushed Nick into cover. She did what anyone, officer or no, would have done to save someone they cared about and you know it!"

The buffalos expression remained unchanged as he looked down at the finger planted on his chest. Unfolding his arms, the chief of the ZPD firmly pushed it to one side before speaking.

"Eloquently put Mr Allen, but I wasn't going to blame you for anything."

Barry blinked.

"Uh...excuse me?"

"If you had not stopped the explosion, then that bomb would have killed most of the officers on site, including Hopps and Wilde. Furthermore, you are the reason she's in that ward right now and not a slab in the morgue."

He leant back against the wall and sighed, Barry thought that the buffalo looked almost vulnerable.

"Before we continue, I want something to be clear, I still don't like you, you are a super powered vigilante and that makes you dangerous. But...I can respect someone that risks their life to save another, regardless of affiliation."

The buffalo straightened up and approached him.

"Do you have family?"

"Uh, yes," he replied, unsure about the buffalos line of questioning.

"So do I and not just at home. In the course of my career I have gotten to know many officer, all fine mammals with their own unique personalities and quirks. I feel happy when they succeed, and I support them when they fail. Over the years I have seen promising rookies become experienced veterans and I have been proud of every single one. You could say they are like a second family to me."

The buffalo extended a hoof.

"Which is why I want to say thank you. Thank you for protecting my family."

The sincerity of the statement struck a chord with Barry, it made him think of Dr Wells, Cisco and Caitlin, his own unofficial family. He took the hoof and shook it firmly.

"Your welcome, Chief Bogo."

Bogo released Barry's hand and the pair returned to the corridor, just as Nick emerged from Judy's room.

"Officer Wilde," said Bogo. "How is she?"

"Ju-Officer Hopps is conscious sir. She's just resting now, but says she will give a statement as soon as she can."

A subtle smile graced the large mammals lips.

"That's good news, let me know as soon as she's ready."

"Yes sir, " he replied. Further conversation was interrupted by Bogos radio bursting to life.

" _Dispatch to Chief Bogo,"_ crackled Clawhausers voice.

"Bogo here," he replied.

" _Chief, we may have a lead on that speedy mammal who fought The Flash. Agent Perry is requesting you."_

"Thank you Clawhauser, I'll be right over."

He made to leave, before pausing.

"Flash, I might need your help with this one, Officer Wilde you to."

"With respect sir, I'd rather wait for Officer Hopps to recover," replied Nick

"Wilde, I've got most of the precinct in the streets cleaning up after that fight. I may need someone to investigate this lead and you are still assigned to this case. Don't worry, I'll leave someone to watch over Hopps."

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True to his word, Bogo left Officer Snarlov to watch Judy, with strict instructions to contact them if her condition changed in any way.

Racing back to the ZPD, the trio were directed to the Cybercrime division by Clawhauser. It were located near the back of the precinct, and was often overlooked by many as its team didn't have the visibility of the field officers. However, these mammals still served their city with pride.

Cybercrime was based in a large room, with rows of computers occupying most of the space, while several large TV screens lined the far wall, each displaying a different news or data feed, although right now every network was replaying footage of Barry's battle with Zoom. The mammals that worked each station were arguably some of the most tech savvy individuals in the city and their skills at tracking, hacking or defending systems were invaluable to the ZPD.

Following Bogo, Nick and Barry were led to a side office, typically used for private briefings.

It had a small table and a computer as well as a TV screen on the wall for presentations.

Waiting for them inside were Honey, Agent Perry, and, surprisingly, Dr Clawdon.

"Finally!" moaned Honey. "Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting?"

Bogo gave the badger a death glare, she wasn't even phased.

"I'm afraid Honey has a point," said Perry. "Time is of the essence."

"You said you have a lead?" asked Bogo.

"Indeed," she replied. "When I saw that other speedster-"

"Zoom," interrupted Barry. "He calls himself Zoom."

This time it was Honeys turn to give a death glare.

"Anyway...when I saw 'Zoom' fighting The Flash, it gave me an idea about how we might be able to find not just him, but maybe even his boss. I was having difficulty coming up with a workable solution when Dr Clawdon approached me."

The tiger stepped forwards.

"I heard what happened to Judy on the news. She stood up Sawbones when I never did, it made me realise that I don't want to live in fear anymore. I want my darling Lily back, so I grabbed everything I had and came straight here."

He drew their attention to a series of papers that were spread out on the table, they were a series of X-rays and blueprints detailing a series of advanced implants for Zoom.

"Zoom's power doesn't just come from that speed drug. When Sawbones brought him to me his legs were useless, and for what he had in mind we needed to fix them. I rebuilt them using a mix of surgical and technological techniques, but for the implants to work they needed a power source."

He pulled up a blueprint that depicted something Barry immediately recognised from STAR labs.

"That's a Tachyon Enhancer."

Clawdon was astonished.

"Thats...correct Flash. Sawbones wanted something that would work alongside the speed drug and forced me to adapt this design to work as a power source. The Tachyons work with the drug to increase Zoom's speed, however they emit a very specific form of energy."

"With this knowledge," continued Agent Perry. "We used the ZIA satellite system to look for unusual energy signatures, cross referencing it with supersonic disturbances in Zootopia."

Honey hit a button on the computer and a map of the city, crisscrossed with red lines appeared on the TV screen.

"These disturbances are primarily caused by aircraft," she explained. "Which makes it difficult to pinpoint anything moving at supersonic speeds."

"Clever way to hide," muttered Nick.

"However," she continued, "when we overlap the Tachyon energy signature."

Several of the lines turned blue.

"All of these are Zoom," finished Clawdon. "Removing the ones created today, we have discovered that there is a single building that he returns to constantly."

The map zoomed in on a warehouse in the dockyards.

"If he's getting that drug from Sawbones then he has to be returning to resupply," said Barry.

"Exactly," replied Honey, triumphantly. "Which means that is where Sawbones operation is hiding!"

"Excellent work," congratulated Bogo. "I'll rally every officer I can find."

"I'm coming to sir," said Nick. "This guy needs to be put away for what he did to Ju-officer Hopps."

The buffalo hesitated, before turning to the fox.

"If we weren't short staffed right now I would outright refuse your request. You have been personally affected by this mammal which will impair your judgement, so I have to ask, can you keep your emotions out of it long enough to make an arrest?"

"Sir, yes sir," he replied, determined. Judy had taken a bullet for him, the least he could do was bring in the scumbag that hurt her.

"Wait," interrupted Barry. "If you go in there it will just be a repeat of the warehouse, maybe worse. I have an idea, but I'm going to need some help to pull it off."

"What do you have in mind Mr Allen?" asked Perry.

Barry removed his own Tachyon Enhancer and showed it to Clawdon.

"First of all, can you fix this?"


	13. Chapter 13

_"A summary of today's top story. A ZPD raid almost ended in disaster when a hidden explosive was detonated during the operation. Reports say that it was only the intervention of the mysterious, super powered vigilante, known as The Flash, which prevented the deaths of both officers and suspects. This story comes on the heels of the dramatic battle between The Flash and another super powered individual, whose identity has been confirmed as the infamous hit mammal Hunter Zolomon."_

The TV was muted by an angry Sawbones as he glared at Zoom, who stood confidently in front of his master.

"This was supposed to be a statement! The ZPD were supposed to die! Instead you went for a runaround and left the job to incompetent mammals!"

Zoom shrugged.

"They were throwaways anyway, although I had hopes for Shimmer. Besides, I followed your instructions, does it matter that I wanted to see how fast The Flash could be before I broke his legs in front of city hall."

"That would be if he survived the explosion," replied Sawbones, exasperatedly. "I understand this is somewhat personal to you. Imagine how I felt when I saw an enhanced mammal working with the ZPD. You and the others are MY work, MY Soldiers. To see someone else with your type of power is galling."

"It's more than galling," growled the cheetah. "Forget the others, I am a force to be reckoned with! There is no doubt in anyone's mind that when my name is heard, they feel fear crawl up their spine! Then this poser in red pyjamas shows up out of nowhere, that was a challenge I could not let stand!"

"You should have let him go," replied his cyborg employer, menacingly. "Returned to the bomb site yourself, not give him a chance to stop it!"

"Never," retorted Zoom. "You know he's going to become a problem further down the line, I just tried to take him out sooner."

Sawbones cybernetic eye glowed dangerously as its red glare swept over the predator before him. The cyborg weighed the disadvantage of simply killing Zoom and finding another, but ultimately the cheetah was too valuable an asset to lose.

He sighed in frustration.

"Regardless of your personal motivations, the battle you had has caused a media frenzy. Footage went viral within minutes of you throwing the first punch and there are too many witnesses to silence. The footage is being replayed on every major network and now mammals are asking questions, questions that could leads them right to us. We're going to have to lay low for a while and regroup."

Their discussion was interrupted by a loud wail from a wall speaker.

"Proximity alarm," said Sawbones, and his ocular implant immediately displayed numerous camera feeds in front of his vision.

He snarled angrily at what he saw.

Armoured SWAT trucks and jeeps crashed through the ruined fence that surrounded his warehouse, their sirens blaring loudly. Quickly, they began to form a perimeter, as armoured police mammals leapt from each vehicle and advanced on his hideout.

"It looks like someone was tracked!" he snapped at the cheetah.

"Impossible, my speeds keep any mammal from seeing me!" growled Zoom

"That was before they had a speedster of their own," replied Sawbones, handing Zoom more V9. "Kill them all and then do the same to their families, that should make up for your mistakes."

Jabbing an Epipen into his leg, Zoom felt a rush of energy as lightning coursed across his body. Pulling on his mask, the dark speedster rocketed outside and went straight for Chief Bogo who was leading the charge, preparing to pull the buffalo's heart from his ribcage.

However a super powered fist crashed into his jaw before he could, throwing him off balance and straight into a dumpster.

Staggering to his feet, he turned to face his attacker.

"Back for more Flash?" he growled at the Scarlet Speedster.

"Guess I don't know when to quit," replied Barry, standing nonchalantly before him.

Zoom grinned darkly under his mask.

"When I'm done with you, there won't be enough left to fill a matchbox."

"You'll have to catch me first."

With a blast of lightning, the two speedsters rocketed away from the scene. All of this was watched by Sawbones, who growled in anger at his subordinate.

"That idiot."

He pressed a finger to the metallic side of his skull.

"The ZPD are about to break in, slaughter them."

Meanwhile Chief Bogo was organising his men.

"Team A, create a perimeter," barked the buffalo. "No mammal gets in or out!"

"Yes Sir!" replied the sergeant.

"Teams B, C, and D storm, the building!"

He looked down at Nick as the fox jogged beside him.

"Officer Wilde form up with Team D and follow them in, your objective is to find Sawbones and take him down. Agent Perry and I will be ahead of you with Teams B and C, our objective is to clear a path through any enhanced mammals he throws at us."

"Got it boss," replied the fox, running to his assigned unit.

The armoured mammals of the ZPD took position by the warehouse's large front door while a member of the bomb squad attached a C4 charge to the entrance.

"Breaching in three...two...one...Go!"

The C4 detonated and the door was blown into a cloud of dust and debris. Before the it had even cleared, the SWAT units were moving in, the sounds of gunfire echoing from within as Sawbones goons fought back.

Nick's body itched as he waited for the signal to move, the scum that nearly killed Judy was in there and he wanted payback. Soon his radio crackled into life.

"Route cleared, Team D go!" exclaimed Agent Perry.

The SWAT mammals moved in, with Nick close behind.

Inside, the warehouse was a war zone. The ZPD's aggressive tactics had managed to catch the occupants before they could set up a proper defence. Several lay on the floor, either with darts in their flash or rapidly twitching as electricity coursed through their veins.

The remaining mammals had taken cover behind several stacked crates, but they were being steadily forced back and Team D pushed forwards.

Their only warning was a 'Whoosh' of hot air before a wall of green fire erupted before them, immediately halting their advance. Walking through it, completely unharmed, was a horse whose skeleton was not only visible, but it was pitch black against his glowing, radioactive flesh.

With a mad whinny it tossed its blazing mane and spat fire towards the SWAT teams, causing them to scrambled for cover. However, that was only the beginning as a screeching roar from above alerted them to another enhanced. A lioness dropped from the ceiling, landing amongst the disorientated officers, unfurling a pair of razor edged, metallic wings.

Serrated feathers flew at the police mammals, who had to raise their riot shields in response. However, this left them open to attack, as the predator immediately launched herself at the nearest officer, taking attention away from an elephant that lumbered out of the shadows. The miniguns that now formed its arms spun into life, and tracer rounds peppered the ZPD's flank.

Nick's smaller size meant he was able to avoid most of the attacks, ducking under the hail of bullets as a titanium feather whizzed past his muzzle. Taking cover behind some metal crates, he found himself side by side with with Agent Perry, the platypus trying to reload his own tranquiliser pistol.

"Not quite the warm welcome I was expecting, any ideas Agent P?"

"It's Perry, and...I don't know. This level of firepower is unprecedented, we must have gotten so lucky before."

They looked out from cover as the gatling elephant tore into their flank, officers falling like wheat before him. Those that ran were either leapt upon by the winged lioness, or set alight by the nuclear horse.

"We need to take them out or we're going to be destroyed..."

As they looked out on the battlefield, Nick got a good look at the elephant as it turned to attack more officers. The chain guns were being fed by a tank on his back, with ammunition tubes running the length of its meaty arms. So long as it was fed ammunition, those guns would never stop.

"I have an idea," he said. "Keep him distracted!"

"That doesn't seem to be a problem!" replied the platypus, popping up to fire at the elephant as Nick quickly made his way around the edges of the battlefield. His species natural ability to remain unseen kept him hidden as he darted from shadow to shadow, finally coming up behind the gun wielding pachyderm.

Scrambling up some crates, he leapt across to the mammals ammunition tank and yanked hard on the feeding tubes. Before the elephant could react, they broke free and a geyser of bullets shot skyward in a cloud of compressed air. The titanic mammal cried out in panic, swinging his arms wildly just before Nick jammed his taser into its ear.

As electricity pulsed through its veins, the mammal released a trumpeting scream as it fell to the floor.

Leaping clear of the tumbling body, Nick was caught in the chest by a fireball that sent him crashing into more crates. The skull on the flaming horse seemed to smile in satisfaction, moments before Chief Bogo attacked.

The buffalo swung his baton at the mammal's head, the weapon contacting with a heavy thud. However, despite sending the mammal staggering, it's body was radiating so much heat that the club burst into flame on contact.

Bogo instinctively threw the burning baton away, while the flaming horse turned to glare at him, its flames burning with re-newed intensity.

"Chief!"

Fangmeyer threw his boss a shield just as the burning mammal unleashed a torrent of nuclear flames. Ducking behind the shield, Bogo felt them wash over it, the searing heat threatening to engulf him as the shield began to melt. Holding his ground, the ZPD chief waited until the flames were exhausted, before throwing the now useless shield at his attacker.

However, the horse was ready this time and dodged the projectile, only to come face to face with Agent Perry and an industrial fire extinguisher.

"Cool off," said the platypus with a smirk.

Foam erupted from the nozzle and right into the enhanced mammals mug. It gagged and screamed as the foam filled its mouth and nostrils, rubbing its hooves over itself in an effort to clear the chemical douser.

Disorientated, the horse eventually cleared its eyes long enough to see Bogo's fist, moments before impact.

Bogo shook his hand in pain as the mammal crumpled to the floor. The heat from its body had managed to burn his kevlar gloves. Agent Perry continued to cover it in foam until he was sure he wouldn't re-ignite unexpectedly.

Before Bogo had a moment to breath, he was tackled to the floor by the lioness. With a roar she unsheathed her claws and made to rip out the buffalos throat.

As Agent Perry fumbled with his tranquilizer, something smacked right into the lioness's chest, throwing her from Bogos prone form. The object turned out to be a set of bolas, that had wrapped the predators arms and wings to her body, severely hampering her maneuverability and allowing several officers to finally taze her.

Nick Wilde appeared alongside the pair, a bow in his hands and a quiver on his back.

"Need a hand Chief?" he quipped.

"Glad to see you alive Wilde," replied the buffalo. "Where did you get those?"

"Funny thing, those crates I got thrown in were filled with all sorts of weapons and gadgets. So I decided to borrow this, bet you didn't know I could shoot a bow."

"Just don't forget to hand it into evidence," replied Bogo. " Although, right now I'd rather see it all destroyed," replied Bogo. "Officer Wilde, we can take it from here, you go and find Sawbones."

"Yes sir," replied Nick.

"Don't let recent events cloud your judgement, we need Sawbones alive to face justice."

"...I remember," he replied, before heading deeper into the building.

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **We are into the home stretch folks! Time for some cliff-hangers!**


	14. Chapter 14

The Flash ran, ran as fast as he could away from the ZPD, away from the city, away from those that could be hurt by Zoom.

As the world turned into an endless blur of colours and light, Barry mentally hoped this plan would work. Zoom was one of his most dangerous foes, and this parallel was no pushover. However, there were some key differences between him and the original, something Barry knew he could exploit, he just had to push the predator far enough.

Glancing back, he made sure the cheetah was still chasing him, sure enough, the dark speedster was there, rapidly closing the gap.

Zoom growled as he saw Barry accelerate, he wasn't going to be outrun so easily. As the two speedsters rocketed through the rolling hills and plains of Bunnyburrow, the predator picked up speed and his Tachyon Enhancers responded, agitating the V9 in his system so he could run even faster. Boosting himself forwards, the predator managed to come alongside Barry and roughly shoved him.

The Flash veered widely off course, narrowly avoiding a forest of trees as he corrected his footing. As he closed the gap with Zoom, Barry decided that turnabout was fair play and span his left arm to generate a mini-tornado, blowing the dark speedster sideways into a parked truck.

Zoom saw stars as he impacted the vehicle with a clang. Dropping to his knees, the cheetah shook his head to try and clear his vision, just as Barry skidded to a stop before him.

"I see you've gotten faster," he growled.

"What can I say? I work hard."

"It still won't be enough Flash," said Zoom, stalking towards Barry. "Once I break you, I will break everyone around you, starting with that bunny and her boy-toy fox! I will turn the ZPD into a charnel house and leave a trail of bodies all over Zootopia and beyond!"

"Zoom stop!" snapped Barry. "Don't you see? It's the V9 in your system, it's twisting your mind. I've seen the damage it does, it destroys good people, turns them into something awful. You said life wasn't easy for you, but this is just destroying any hope you have of a brighter future."

"Hunter, please. Let it go," he offered the cheetah a hand, one last plea for him to stop what he was doing and change for the better.

However, his plea went unheeded.

"My NAME is Zoom!" roared the predator. "I will NEVER give up Flash, not until I am the fastest mammal in the world, not until I live in infamy and my name is feared by all!"

He went to drive his fist into Barry's chest, but the metahuman dodged the attack and kicked Zoom in the gut.

"Fine," replied Barry, grimly. "But if you want to be the fastest, you'll have to catch me first."

With that The Flash took off in a streak of golden lightning. As Zoom watched Barry leave, he pulled out another Epipen and jammed it into his jugular. As blue lightning coursed over his body, the dark speedster released a furious bellow before he charged after Barry.

The Flash risked a glance over his shoulder and saw Zoom rapidly catching up. Pushing himself to run faster, Barry felt his own Tachyon Enhancer respond and new energy surged through his veins. The effect was like removing a weight from his body and the scarlet speedster shattered the sound barrier with a deafening boom.

Zoom snarled. Increasing his own speed, he felt the machinery in his legs respond but he was still just behind The Flash as they sped out to sea, their sheer velocity allowing them to run on the water's surface.

Water borne mammals and sailors alike were stupefied by the two speedsters as they shot along the ocean's surface, their wakes causing powerful waves that nearly upturned several smaller vessels.

Hitting land once more, the added traction caused the pair to speed up once again as they rocketed through lush jungle and stepped pyramid cities. The tropical mammals ducking and diving to avoid the two as Zoom struggled to catch up with his nemesis.

Injecting himself with another dose of V9, the cheetah immediately began to close the distance with Barry. As they left the continent and ran out over the ocean once more, he finally managed to come up beside The Flash.

He generated a tornado to try and knock Barry over, at their speeds hitting the water would be fatal. However, Barry was familiar with this trick and fell back to avoid it.

As they hit land, running through open desert and brush land, Barry came up alongside Zoom before overtaking him once again. The cheetah let out a frustrated roar before injecting himself with all the remaining V9.

The results were instantaneous, he accelerated significantly and the world seemed to peel back around him, the only clear image he had was of The Flash as he rapidly caught up with him. Blue lightning sparked and flashed across the predator's body as he once again drew level with his nemesis.

"You can't outrun me Flash, no matter how fast you are!"

"I don't need to outrun you Zoom, just outthink you," replied Barry, as the pair neared Zootopia.

Zoom growled as he went to drive a fist through Barry heart, but he paused. Something felt different, something felt...off.

The cheetah looked as his vibrating hand, sparks were coursing all over it, but that wasn't all. He looked on in slowly dawning horror as it began to disintegrate, blue dust peeling off in the wind as he ran faster and faster.

"What's happening to me? What did you do?!" he roared.

"I didn't do anything Zoom, you did!" replied Barry. "You might be fast, but you're not a speedster, your power isn't natural, it's artificial! I wasn't lying when I said I'd seen what V9 does to people, the addiction, the madness. It's just like any other drug, and that includes what happens when you overdose!"

Zoom couldn't stop running, he could feel the V9 in his system, forcing him onwards, forcing him to keep accelerating until he overtook The Flash entirely. As his body began to break down, disintegrating into nothing, he let out a cry of pain and terror, until finally, there was nothing left.

Barry skidded to a stop, they had made it back to Zootopia and Zooms' final run had stopped just short of the city centre. He walked up to where the dark speedster had vanished. All that was left was a pile of ash, the shreds of his costume, and his leg implants, which sparked and popped on the concrete.

Aware of how dangerous even the remains of Zoom could be, he gathered up the tattered costume and ruined implants. Racing back to the ZPD, he left them in Honey's lab before speeding back towards the warehouse battle, hoping that nothing terrible had happened in his absence


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry for the long time between the last update and this one but it went through a partial re-write while real life stuff happened. Anyway. Lets get on with the final, epic confrontation.**

* * *

Nick Wilde cautiously made his way through the warehouse interior, an arrow knocked to his salvaged bow. During the ZPD's initial offensive they had cut power to the building, but a few emergency lights were active in the darkened corridors, casting an eerie glow on his surroundings.

As he silently slipped deeper into Sawbones lair, Nick quietly inspected the bow in his paws. It resembled a compound bow, however there were levers on the end of each arm, presumably to help store energy, which was then transferred to the arrow by a set of recurved, outboard limbs.

Nick was impressed by the construction, his father had been an award winning archer and taught the fox a few things when he was a cub. He had chosen to continue to hone his skill even after he became a street hustler, using it on a few schemes he and Finnick had concocted.

He groaned and rolled his shoulder to try and ease his aching muscles. He had been protected by his riot gear when he hit the crate, but that didn't mean the impact had not been painful. It was most likely adrenaline and willpower that was keeping him on his feet

With the semi-dark no obstacle to his natural night vision, the fox pushed open a door and wandered into an operating theatre. The surgical slab that occupied the centre of the space was illuminated by two bright spotlights, allowing him to see clearly the sets of restraints that were lying on the surface. On the floor was a drain and Nick could see dried blood on the grill.

A nearby cart had a tray of surgical tools on top, many of which he couldn't identify, but there were clearly not standard issue. What surprised him the most was that there seemed to be a great many rodent scale tools and equipment. A mobile platform was parked by the table, with a second sitting in a charging dock by the wall. Thousands of tiny tools say ready on miniscule trays and the bed itself had a small staircase that ran from the surface to the floor.

Looking up, the fox spied a large rig that hung from the ceiling, it was a spiderweb of platforms and paths, yet another thing designed for rodent use. Silver machinery hung from it, limp and lifeless. Saws and cutters glinted evilly in the light, while needles filled with a silvery liquid sat primed and ready, there was even an industrial laser topping one of the mechanical arms.

Nick was to engrossed in his examination that he failed to notice he was not alone.

A hyena, covered head to toe in armour plate, clanked out of the shadows. Nick jumped at the sight and quickly knocked and fired an arrow at the predator, only for it to be caught and crushed to dust.

Getting the table between them, Nick had a good look at his opponent. The only visible flesh on the hyena was his muzzle and left eye, as the right was a glowing cybernetic. He towered over the fox, easily rivalling Chief Bogo in size. One hand had been replaced with a set of wicked, serrated blades, while the other glowed and crackled with barely contained power.

"I see you found my workshop, Nicholas Wilde," growled the predator.

Nick stood his ground.

"So many mammal have been made better in here, so many cripples, idiots and worthless dregs re-born into something more. Of course it wasn't enough, I needed more space, more technology. Dr Clawdons' laboratory was the perfect place, everything a mammal could need. All I had to do was 'persuade' his wife, I will be paying them both a visit after I deal with you."

"So, you must be Sawbones." replied the fox, curtly.

The hyena laughed like the screech of rusted metal.

"Who else could I be? I'm certainly not that bunny you like to fawn over, how is she doing by the way?"

Nick felt a growl rise in his throat.

"I see I struck a nerve, perhaps Clawdon won't be the only mammal I visit-"

He was cut off as another arrow ricochet off his armor with a 'ping'.

The hyena paused, then looked at the impact site. The projectile hadn't done anything except scratch his chestplate. He picked at the mark before examining his finger, almost absentmindedly.

"Interesting, the arrow was tipped with a titanium compound, not enough to break my armour, but still, even a scratch is impressive."

Sawbones smiled coldly.

"How about we see what else is in that quiver of yours."

With a roar he ripped the operating table from the floor and threw it at the fox. Nick ducked underneath the flying furniture and drew his bow once more, shooting an arrow that split into a net. This wrapped around Sawbones arms, pinning them to his torso, but the predator simply flexed his mechanical muscles and tore the net to ribbons, before taking aim at Nick with his glowing hand.

"Oh, come on!" exclaimed the fox, diving out of the firing line as red hot plasma flew towards him. He darted for the door, small explosions motivating Nick to flee much faster.

The cyborg predator was hardly a quiet mammal and Nick didn't need his night vision to hear the clanking, crashing monstrosity that pursued him. Ducking into the first open room he found, Nick slammed the door and slid the bolt closed.

His heart was hammering in his chest and the fox tried to steady his breathing as he turned to see what he had run into. The room was lit by an eerie green glow that came from three, clear glass tanks which lined the wall. In each of them were mammals, a hippo, a wolf and a buffalo.

Before he could consider what had been done to them, the door was blown off its hinges as Sawbones stomped into the room, his optic immediately targeting the fox.

Nick leapt back as the cyborgs bladed hand slashed and stabbed towards him. Grabbing another arrow, he fired it at the hyena, where it exploded into what looked like foam filler. This rapidly expanded over the predator's body until he was firmly encased up to his neck.

"You really do deserve some credit, these arrows are very cool," he quipped.

"They are not meant for you, fox!" The last word was spat with disdain.

"We'll I'm sure I'll love hearing about during your interrogation at the ZPD."

"I disagree," sneered the predator.

Nick's sensitive nose picked up the scent of something burning as the foam started to smoulder. Seconds later, the foam exploded as Sawbones laser blasted it to red hot ribbons.

"I spent years modifying this body, do you think this is going to stop me?"

Nick bolted once more as angry bolts of energy flew at him. The predator was still partially trapped so he made to run around him, only for the cyborgs bladed arm to burst free a moment later in a cloud of shredded filler. Narrowly avoiding a maddened swipe, the fox fired another arrow, the projectile exploding behind him as he fled down the corridor.

Without looking to see if it had any effect, although that was unlikely at this point, Nick barged through a large door and into a rear loading dock for the warehouse. Shipping crates and boxes were stacked floor to ceiling, creating a maze of pathways that were perfect for the fox officer to hide in.

Nick disappeared into the depths of the room as Sawbones clattered through the door a moment later, his hand singed but otherwise uninjured. Growling, the hyena adjusted his optic to scan for the troublesome vulpine.

"Give it up tin can, the ZPD are here and The Flash will soon follow, you've lost!" Nick's voice echoed from in the darkness.

"Have I? Snarled the cyborg. "This is a major setback I'll admit, but I've recovered from worse. The ZPD are little more than bugs compared to my mammals."

"Yeah, well those 'bugs', just took out your circus freaks," quipped the fox, as he snuck between crates.

"Then they were failures! Just like those in the tanks and just like those that should have slaughtered every last one of you interfering creatures in my ambush!"

Sawbones detected a distinctive orange blob moving behind some crates, and quickly made his way into the maze.

"Did you know that every one of my mammals has their own sob story. A malformed limb, a disability, some were just victims of societal bias, I'm sure you understand that, fox."

"Maybe I can, he replied, slinking between a few shipping crates. "But I never felt the need to turn myself into a toaster over it."

"My mammals are more than some petty appliance!" roared Sawbones. "I found them in the worst of places and I made them better! I gave them their tools and they used them however they saw fit. If a few died because of it, I'm not at fault."

"No, you just put the gun their hands," replied Nick, passing a leaky pipe on the wall. "So, do you just trawl hospitals for murderers and psychos? Or is there an application process?"

The hyena chuckled darkly.

"You'd be surprised how few of my mammals are actually trained killers. The rest need some...persuasion, but they all accept it after a while. A mind is so easy to change when you've been poking around inside of it."

Sawbones saw the shape take cover and prepare another arrow as he passed a line of crates. The predator smiled and took aim with his laser.

Nick quickly stepped out and fired. Sawbones arm snapped up and he caught it mid flight.

"Nice try, but this is where you die."

"You first!"

Nick pulled another arrow from behind his back, one that sparked with electric power, and threw it into a puddle on the floor, a puddle which formed from the leaky pipe Sawbones had ignored. Over ten thousand volts raced through the water and up the hyenas metal legs.

The cyborgs body shook and shuddered, metal joints snapped to rigid attention as sparks ran across his armoured frame. His optic shattered in a shower of sparks as he gurgled through a mouth that foamed with spit and industrial lubricants. Finally, his one remaining eye rolled back until only the white was visible and the predator collapsed to the floor in a shower of sparks and smoke.

Nick discarded the electric arrow and moved in cautiously, slowly inspecting the cyborg's body. After giving it a few tentative pokes, he was satisfied that he wasn't going to get back up.

His relief was interrupted when The Flash suddenly appeared at his side.

"Glad to see you're alright," said Barry.

"Me too," replied Nick. "But Bogo isn't going to be happy, I should have brought him in alive, but I kept thinking about what happened to Judy."

Nick's shoulders slumped.

"Well, my ZPD career was fun while it lasted, at least he's not going to hurt anyone anymore."

"Sorry I couldn't help," replied Barry.

"Yeah, but we both know you had to take care of speedy."

"Look Nick I know that your judgement was clouded, it happens to the best of us. Just don't lose who you are because of it, no matter what happens next. Be the fox that Judy loves and you will get through this."

"I will," he replied, the thought of his partner giving him strength.

The pair were about to leave when Sawbones body started to jerk and spasm. Looking at it in shock, the two watched as it managed to unsteadily rise on metal legs.

"What the hell!" yelped the fox, automatically loosing an arrow.

The projectile stuck into the joint of Sawbones shoulder, but he made no attempt to remove it. The predators head lolled back like he was in a daze as he lurched forwards like a zombie.

Barry reacted immediately with a supersonic punch to the cyborg's chest, the clang echoing throughout the warehouse, but Sawbones did not even flinch. One arm swung lazily to smack Barry to the foor.

Nick reacted by firing another two arrows, these exploded against Sawbones metal body, but didn't seem to faze the techno-zombie as it lurched towards the vulpine. The cyborgs gun arm glowed menacingly as it fired several wide shots, forcing Nick to take cover.

"You really don't know when to quit do you tin can!" quipped NIck, but Sawbones response was a screech of electronic noise.

Groaning as he got to his feet, Barry saw Sawbones lurch through a stack of crates with a crash of splintering wood, his bladed hand flailing wildly. Sprinting at the predator, he drew back one arm and aimed another strike at the side of the predators lolling head.

As his fist impacted the cyborgs skull, the head flew clear in a shower of sparks, oil and industrial lubricant.

Nick poked his head out of cover as the body dropped to the floor once again.

"Whoa...didn't see that coming," he said.

"Neither did I," replied Barry. "That punch has brought down criminals on my earth, but it's never killed anyone before."

Nick saw something move by the severed head.

"Maybe it didn't," he replied, going to investigate.

As he got closer, he could hear a voice screeching and cursing until he finally saw what was making the noise.

It was a rat, a rat that was struggling out of the shattered eye of Sawbones skull. Nick grabbed it by the tail and hoisted it to eye level.

The rodent looked pale and thin, with his fur falling out in places. Along his arms, legs and at the base of his neck were what looked like sockets.

"Who are you?" he growled at the hapless rodent.

"Who do you think!" snapped the rat.

"You're Sawbones?"

"Of course you unevolved clod!" replied the rat as he dangled in the fox's fingers. "How do you think the precision work was done, I wasn't about to leave it to those knuckle dragging aides of mine!"

The ranting rat gestured at the headless body that lay ruined on the floor.

"Do you know how long that body took to build? I had it smuggled out of a hospital morgue years ago and I've been tinkering with it ever since. It was the pinnacle of my technology, the very essence of what my enhancements can do. I will make you pay for this, you will all-"

He was cut off when Nick abruptly dropped him into an blug bag marked "RODENTS".

"At least that explains the rodent scale gear I found, let's get back to the ZPD. This is going to be a long story."


	16. Chapter 16

**_This is it, the last chapter just to wrap up a few things, I have ideas for a sequel and some stand alone stories but they will need to be fleshed out first. Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed my first full fanfiction based on an idea that was just too good to not use. I wan to thank everyone for the support, suggestions and criticisms given throughout the process. It's great to see so many people enjoy this mad little idea of mine. You are all awesome._**

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" _These were the scenes earlier tonight when a dramatic battle took place between the ZPD and the gang of mammals run by the criminal leader Sawbones. Footage has also emerged online of a running conflict between the hit mammal Zoom and The Flash, which took place all across the city during the raid. Current opinion places these events as one operation between the ZPD and The Flash, but a spokes-mammal has yet to be reached for confirmation."_

Judy watched the news as she changed out of the hospital gown. It had been a few days since the bomb blast and she had recovered sufficiently to be allowed home. The doctors thought it would have taken much longer for her to recover, but it seemed that Barry's blood transfusion was more effective than they thought.

Footage of the ZPD raid and The Flash battling zoom was on every network, social media site and news station worth their salt. As the doe dressed in a pink blouse and blue jeans, she found it hard to believe everything in the report was real, even though she had lived through it.

" _The ZPD rescued missing family of several prominent members of the scientific community during the operation. Evidence suggests that Sawbones had been using them as hostages to coerce their loved ones to help him with his crimes. All have been returned home safely and Sawbones is currently awaiting trial for his actions."_

As the story moved on, Judy switched off the TV and grabbed some crutches. Despite her recovery, some things were taking a bit longer than the rest of her. She had been advised to use crutches until her legs healed completely, something the rabbit was unhappy about, but couldn't argue the point as it was still painful to walk without aid.

Exiting the ward, she headed for reception.

"Judy!"

Her ears snapped up at her name and she turned to see her partner running towards her. Before she could react, the fox had scooped her into a firm hug.

"When I heard you were getting out I came straight down, I thought they wouldn't let you go for a few more weeks."

"I got released early, but I might go back in if you keep squeezing me like that slick," she wheezed in the fox's firm embrace.

"Sorry, sorry," he replied, sheepishly.

"Dumb fox," teased Judy as Nick eased his grip, but didn't release her.

"Reckless bunny," he replied with a smirk, keeping her close. She smiled back at him, gently wrapping her arms around the fox's body, the rest of the world seemed to melt away as she felt the comforting warmth of his body against her own.

Nick grinned, it was good to see Judy so full of energy again. The sight of her bandaged and vulnerable on that hospital bed was something he would never forget. It spurred the fox to vow that he wouldn't let any harm come to her ever again and anyone that tried would be sorry.

He was snapped out of it by Judy's voice.

"Everything okay there Nick? You looked a little intense."

"It's nothing Carrots," he replied. "Just thinking about everything that's happened."

Judy smiled.

"Yeah, I did a lot of that too."

She took his paw and ran her fingers over his pads, Nick felt himself flush at her gentle touch.

"So, I heard you caught the mammal responsible?" she asked.

"Yup," he replied. "In fact, I took him on single handed."

"Really?" she said, before shrugging nonchalantly. "He couldn't have been that difficult then."

Nick smirked again, pulling a file from under his shirt.

"Actually he was ten tons of armour plate and savagery wrapped around a lame comic book plot twist," he replied, passing the document to her.

"Did you sneak this out of the station?" she asked suspiciously.

"Moi? You wound me carrots," he replied in mock indignation. "I am simply keeping my partner informed of the case we were assigned and shall return it when she is abreast of the situation."

Judy gave the smirking fox a dubious look, before she opened the file and began to read.

"He was a rodent," she exclaimed in disbelief. "Albert Morpheus, known mob physician. Expelled from Zootopia General after he was found to be conducting illegal trials of advanced drugs and prosthetics on patients. Worked for the Big family until five years ago when he was last seen being bundled into a black limousine."

"Those who go into those cars typically don't return," said Nick, suppressing a shudder. "I spoke to Big about the incident, he claims ignorance, that he only wanted to speak to Albert about 'activities not fitting to this family.' He probably had him iced, but what's interesting is that he survived. The medical team found that Sawbones has a third lung, blood that carries more oxygen than a normal rodent and an additional chamber on his heart, I have a feeling that rat knew what was coming and prepared himself for it."

Judy examined the X-rays as best she could while Nick spoke.

"It says here that he fought you inside a cyborg hyena that he piloted from the mammals brain! Gross!"

"It's true," he replied. "Plucked him out of the eye socket myself."

The file revealed that when Honey did the autopsy, she found a pod build into the predator's skull. Cables that plugged into the sockets on Sawbones body ran into it from the outside, where they split into thousands of silk-like wires that were connected directly to the hyena's grey matter. Furthermore, the pod was filled with a strange goop that she noted was made of a mix of stem cells and synthetic materials, theorising that it somehow helped with connectivity and ultimately allowing the rodent to move the hyena like it was his own body.

Judy closed the file, feeling thoroughly green at the badgers in depth descriptions. "At least he's stopped now, I don't like to think of what else that rodent was capable of."

"From what I hear, he's on his way to The Big House," replied Nick.

"The rodent prison inside Elkatraz, that looks like a doll's house sitting on a table in the most high security room ever built."

"That's the one."

Judy handed the folder back to Nick.

"So, what's next for the great Nicholas Wilde?"

"Not alot I'm afraid... I've been suspended Judy."

"WHAT!" The rabbits shriek caused Nick to wince. "How did this happen?"

The fox nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well…."

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 _Several Hours Earlier_

Bogo slowly read the case file while Nicholas Wilde sat, uncharacteristically quiet, in front of the buffalos desk. The fox twiddled his thumbs in an effort to relax, but he found that just couldn't settle down.

Finishing the file, the ZPD chief carefully placed it on his desk before speaking.

"Wilde, you are a good officer. When I first saw you, you had the guts to stare me down and defend Hopps when I was willing to dismiss you both based on my own personal prejudices. I am pleased to say you both have made me re-examine a few of my conceptions since then. Furthermore, as part of the ZPD I can say that you have both served with distinction and honour, upholding the values this organisation was founded on."

The buffalo sighed, looking back down at the file.

"However, this report tells me something about you, It says that you were willing to kill a suspect, even when you had been explicitly ordered to take him alive by a superior officer. It was only by some convoluted, comic-book logic that this was avoided."

Nick dipped his head in submission, the buffalo was right, he could have stopped himself, but he just didn't want to.

"I let you onto that operation because I was short on manpower," continued the ZPD Chief. "You said that you could focus on the mission despite your feelings and you didn't, under normal circumstances there would be an investigation which would lead to your dismissal from the ZPD and possibly a murder charge had you actually killed the suspect."

Nick's breath hitched, and his paw instinctively went to the badge on his shirt. He knew something like this was coming, but it didn't make it any less difficult for him. The badge meant he was something other than the sneaky, untrustworthy fox that society saw him as, to lose it would feel like losing part of himself.

But he was surprised by Bogos next statement.

"However, these are not normal circumstances," said the Buffalo. "The ZPD is now dangerously short on manpower thanks to Sawbones mammals. I can pull units from other precincts but ultimately we will be spread thin across the city, I need all the officers I can get."

He closed the file and offered it to Nick.

"However, punishment is still required for disobedience. Therefore, consider yourself suspended until further notice."

"Yes sir," he replied, downcast, but it was better than being fired. "Any idea when I can come back?"

"I suspect your punishment will last as long as it takes Officer Hopps to recover," said Bogo. "She's going to need support while she recovers and we both know she won't sit still, even if she took a bomb to the face."

Nick smirked slightly at the comment, he was sure that the ghost of a smile played over the chiefs lips as well.

"Dismissed."

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"So...I guess I'm playing nursemaid until you come back to work," said Nick, finishing his story with a nervous smile.

Judy just fumed.

"Nicholas Piberius Wilde," she said, firmly. "You took a great risk and nearly died to bring in a criminal, you should not be punished for doing your job. Furthermore, I am a grown rabbit and can take care of myself! I'm going to talk to Bogo, make him see that you don't deserve this."

She started to move, but Nick knelt in front of the angry bunny.

"Carrots, Judy, you read the file, I nearly killed a mammal."

"But you didn't."

"But I could have," he replied. "When Sawbones was stalking me, all I could think about what what happened to you, what those mammals did to you."

He ran a finger over the bandages that still covered part of her face.

"I just...I knew my orders, but they didn't matter. All that mattered was getting payback for what they did to you. It was like a dark part of me, one that I never knew existed, awoke and was out for blood."

"Nick," replied Judy, softly running her paw over his. "I..don't know what to say."

She pulled him into a hug and felt him return the gesture as he wrapped his paws around her small body.

"I need to get my head together, besides, the chief is right. Who else will make sure you actually rest and recover, instead of trying to chase people down with those crutches."

She looked up at him as he gave her a cheeky smile, so she slapped him on the arm.

"Owww, what did I do?"

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Exiting the hospital, they were greeted by Barry Allen in his civilian clothes.

"Hey speedy," quipped Nick, rubbing his arm. "What are you doing here?"

"Just checking in," he replied. "The cleanup is nearly done and I wanted to see if Judy was okay, although I see you have that covered."

"He certainly has," replied Judy, brightly. "So, what's next for you? Planning to stay for a bit longer?"

"Actually, I think it's time I headed home," he replied. "With the tachyon enhancer fixed I should be able to breach the dimensional barrier back to my earth. My friends are going to be worried sick about me."

"Aww, you sure you can't stay longer, I hear Bogo is finally warming up to you?" said Nick with a smirk.

Barry chuckled.

"Sorry, but, as much as I want to, I really need to head home. But if you want to see me off, Clawdon says he can help."

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Entering Zootopia Biolabs, the three were immediately approached by an overjoyed Dr Clawdon. He was closely followed by another white tiger, whom they immediately recognised as the one from the photograph on his desk.

"Nick, Judy, Barry! It's so good to see you again!" he exclaimed, before wrapping all three of them in a tight hug.

"Oof, I didn't think he could be this happy," wheezed Nick as the tiger squeezed them tight, before releasing them.

As they regained their breath, the female tiger stepped to Clawdons side.

"Everyone," he said, reigning in his emotions. "Meet my wife Lily."

Lily Clawdon was as lovely as her photograph, with soft features and a slender form that made her the image of beauty. Moving away from her husband, she stood in front of the two mammals and one superhero.

"Nathaniel says you three helped to rescue me," before anyone could react she quickly pulled them into a second hug.

"Thank you, you have no idea what it was like for me and the others."

"Well, that's what we do at the ZPD," replied Judy, as they were let go.

"Indeed," said Clawdon. "In fact, I recently received a call from your police chief, he's going after Sawbones remaining mammals and he wants me to help. You never know, you might see me around Precinct One sometime.

"I hope so Doc," replied Nick. "It's been good meeting you."

"So, I take it Mr Allen is here because of my offer," replied Clawdon.

"Thats right Doc," said Barry.

"Alright then, if you follow me I can show you what I have in mind."

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"This project is something of a long term goal," said Clawdon as they descended in the laboratory elevator. "It's got a few years left but the superstructure is finally in place. An unobstructed loop that should give you enough space to build momentum for your journey."

As the lift doors opened, the group exited onto a viewing platform.

The tunnel was vast, hundreds of miles high and coated in metal panels. The design would be baffling to someone who hadn't seen it before, but Barry had.

"This is a particle accelerator," he said.

"Thats correct Mr Allen," said Clawdon. "With luck it will be the source of a great many breakthroughs in the years to come."

"Uh, yeah," he replied. "Listen, this thing caused a lot of problems on my earth. You might want to make sure everything is secure before you switch it on."

As they descended to a control room, Clawdon started up several computers.

"The monitoring system will let us keep track of you as you accelerate. I hope you don't mind, but could I record the event? The data will be invaluable to the scientific community," he asked, eagerly.

"Sure," replied Barry. "Just, don't try to punch a hole in reality. I've already had to seal fifty one of those."

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Clawdon. "Whenever you're ready, just head downstairs and step into the accelerator."

"Okay doctor. Thanks for all your help."

"I should thank you Mr Allen. You returned my wife to me, that's something I can never repay."

With a shake of hands/paws, Barry turned to Nick and Judy.

"You sure you can't stay longer?" she asked, hobbling up to him. "I would love to introduce you to my family."

"Maybe next time," he replied. "I usually cross dimensions frequently in this line of work."

Judy smiled before hugging his leg. Barry dropped down to return the gesture before releasing the bunny, who wiped her eyes with a sniffle.

"You bunnies, so emotional," said Nick, earning him a light slap to the chest.

"So Speedy," he continued. "I guess you won't be around to annoy the chief anymore."

"I think you have that covered slick," quipped Judy.

"You wound me fluff." he replied in mock indignation.

"I'm sure you'll recover," replied Barry with a laugh.

"Well, before you go, would you mind if we took a photo?" asked Nick. "Something to remember the time we met the fastest man alive?"

"Only if I can get one as well," he replied. "I know some friends who are going to love this story."

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"Are you ready Mr Allen?" Clawdons voice cracked through the radio in Barry's hood.

"Ready as I'll ever be." he replied.

"Goodbye Barry," said Judy. "Thanks for everything!"

"See you round Flash," came Nick's voice. "Don't be a stranger."

The Flash smiled under his mask as he waved to the group that watched him from the control booth.

"Vitals look good, readings are coming in clear," said Clawdon. "Now, all I need you to do is run Barry run!"

Lightning erupted in his wake as The Flash ran, the scarlet speedster pushing himself faster and faster as he rounded the accelerators curve again and again, Clawdons instruments lighting up like a christmas tree as they recorded every detail.

The assembled mammals bacred themselves as Barry broke the sound barrier, all the while gaining speed until the tachyon accelerator activated and he finally broke the dimensional barrier and a swirling wormhole formed right in his path. As he sped towards it, The Flash gave one last wave, before he disappeared through the portal and was gone.

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 ** _STAR Labs Earth 1_**

"Seriously, it was like something out of a disney movie," explained Barry to his team.

"If you didn't have pictures, I certainly wouldn't have believed it," replied Dr Well's, as he examined Barry's photos on the monitor.

"Really? You wouldn't have believed it," responded Cisco from his seat at the main control desk. "You're from a parallel earth, how could you not believe this?"

"Some things have to be seen to be believed," he replied. "These climate zones are fascinating. I wonder who designed it all?"

"I wish we could have met Nick and Judy," said Caitlin Snow, the young woman pausing her own monitor to see the selfie Barry had taken. "They sound like wonderful people."

"Admit it, you just want to pet them." quipped Cisco.

Caitlin responded with a guilty grin that triggered smiles all around.

"It's funny that you should run into a parallel of Zoom," said Dr Well's. "But why weren't any of us present?"

"Maybe you didn't exist," replied Barry. "You didn't on Kara's earth, or at least, I couldn't find you."

"Puzzle for another time," he finished. "But the way you handled the double was very impressive. Keep it up and we might just beat our own Zoom.

"I hope they do okay," said Barry, looking at the selfie he took with Nick and Judy. "If those mammals I fought were any indication, their earth is about to have it's own meta problem very soon."

"You did say Nick took down the ringleader with some trick arrows he found," replied Caitlin. "Plus, he and Judy took down that invisible panther, if performance is any indication I'd say they will adapt quickly."

"Huh", mused Cisco, looking at Nick's photo. "Looks like Oliver just got a fuzzy double."

"Oliver is anything but fuzzy," chuckled Barry, earning a few more smiles from the group. "I hope their relationship works out, those two were made for each other."

"Just like you and Iris." replied Well's.

"Yeah," replied Barry.

"Then I expect she'll be wanting to know why the fastest man alive is late for your dinner reservation."

"What!" he exclaimed, checking his watch. "Oh man, she's not going to be happy."

As he disappeared in a flash of lightning, his friends also made to leave.

"If you don't mind, we've also got plans tonight," said Cisco. "Do you want us to get you anything?"

"I think I'll be fine Cisco, but thanks for the offer," replied Well.

As the pair left the lab, Wells walked over to the central control station. Tapping a few keys, he brought up their data on Velocity 9, as well the files on their own Zoom.

"Log entry," began Wells, pressing a button on his watch. "Barry recently returned from a parallel earth where he encountered a version of Zoom. He said he beat that other Zoom by making him overdose on V9, much like own own Zoom, this one was using the speed drug, but was not a natural speedster. Regardless, it's given me an idea on how we can use the drug to take out our own Zoom."

Tapping a few more keys, he brought up plans for the speed extractor Zoom tried to make him use on Barry.

"With luck, he won't see it coming, until it's far, far too late."


End file.
